Commercial flights-Boeing, airbus soon on Kargil Airport

JAMMU: The commercial flights-Boeing and airbus will soon ply on Kargil Airport with the assistance of Airport Authority of India (AAI) as the state government and Union Civil Aviation Ministry have started the exercise for the up gradation of the airport.
“Aiming to make Kargil airport fully functional and to finalize all technical parameters, a team OF AAI officials will visit Kargil on 20th June. Subsequently, a technical team of the AAI will visit Kargil from June 27th for 15 days,” an official spokesperson said.
“The state government is likely to sign Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with AAI on 15th July. The foundation stone for the extension of the runway is expected to be laid by the end of August, 2019, which will kick start commencement of other works,” he said.
“Aiming to develop Kargil Airport into a full-fledged commercial airport for transforming Kargil into a tourist hub on the analogy of Leh, the state Government has set aside Rs 200 crore for development of Kargil Airport,” he informed. “It will also ensure assured air connectivity to the region during the winter months when passes to Ladakh region remain cut off from the rest of the country due to heavy snowfall and inclement weather,” he added.
In this regard, Chief Secretary, B V R Subrahmanyam also held a meeting with Union Secretary, Civil Aviation and other Airport Authority of India (AAI) officials.
The Kargil airport was built by the Airports Authority of India (AAI) at a cost of 350 million Rupees, initially for civilian use but was transferred to the Indian Air Force (IAF) in 2003 after it was damaged in the Kargil War in 1999. The civil enclave at the airfield is managed by the state government.
Indian Air force (IAF), state government and union ministry have mooted many proposal for the upgradation of the airport but nothing was implemented on the ground due to bureaucratic sloth.
In October 2016, a MoU was signed between AAI and Indian Air Force (IAF) in the assets developed by AAI were handed over to the IAF for their operations, including civil operations.
While this arrangement has been continuing since 2006, the limited length of the airstrip at Kargil and inadequate supporting infrastructure has proved to be an impediment in carrying out full-fledged commercial aircraft operations at Kargil.
Presently, the Runway dimension is 6000 ft X 100 ft (1829M X 30M) and the Terminal Building has the capacity to handle 100 peak hour passengers at a time. The airport is equipped with proper facilities for civil air operations.
However, no airline is operating from this airport as it is not commercially viable. IAF had mandated to take up the development work at Kargil Airport including Runway extension by 3000 ft.





Updated On 6/16/2019 11:43:37 AM

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