In a major development, Air India has announced plans to launch much-awaited flights from the upcoming international airport in Ludhiana.

The development assumes significance as the airport coming up at the Halwara airbase is all set to take off with the runway overlaying in progress.

As the entire civil work and also the majority part inside the Indian Air Force (IAF) premises where the airport is coming up are almost complete, the Airports Authority of India (AAI) is in the process of issuing a tentative operational date and the airport code, which is mandatory for the operations.

Besides, the bidding process for the operations of the airlines is also being launched, which will take a couple of months before commercial flights begin operations from here.

In a communication to Rajya Sabha MP Sanjeev Arora, who is the main force behind the project, the Air India group head (GRC and Corporate Affairs) P Balaji has informed that Air India will commence flights to the Halwara airport once it is officially commissioned and receive all necessary regulatory approvals.

“This new development marks an exciting milestone in our efforts to expand connectivity to Punjab, benefiting both business and tourism sector,” he said while lauding Arora’s ongoing support and commitment to the advancement of the country’s aviation infrastructure.

With this, Air India has become the first airline to offer flight operations from Ludhiana.

Earlier, Arora held discussions with Tata Sons and Air India chairman Natarajan Chandrasekaran, who had sent its team of officials to visit the Ludhiana airport on August 29 last year.

Commissioner Jitendra Jorwal and other senior officials from all the state and Central agencies concerned, said the IAF has given March 31 as the deadline for completing the ongoing overlaying of the runway from where the flights will operate.

This ₹50-crore much-delayed project took over three years and missed at least 14 deadlines to see the light of the day.