Gaggal Airport

Kangra-Gaggal Airport , officially known as Kangra Airport, is a regional airport serving areas of Kangra including Dharamshala, the winter capital of Himachal Pradesh, India. It is located at Gaggal, which is situated from the city, from Kangra and from Kangra Railway Station. Kangra Airport is located on National Highway 154, that runs between Pathankot and Mandi, and is the largest airport in Himachal Pradesh in terms of Passengers and Aircraft movement.

History

The foundation of Kangra airport was laid down by Virbhadra Singh, the then Chief Minister of Himachal Pradesh, on 15 October, 1986. The first scheduled operation at this airport was by Vayudoot with a Dornier 228 in the 1990. Subsequently other airlines like Jagson, Air Deccan and Kingfisher also operated from this Airport. In 2001, the airport was renamed as Kangra airport. In March 2007, the runway was extended from and a new terminal building was inaugurated. As a result, for the first time an ATR-42 aircraft of Air Deccan landed at Kangra Airport on 28 March 2007. Subsequently, other airlines also started operating on this route, with SpiceJet and Alliance Air starting from 2013.

Structure

The airport, spread over at an altitude of has one asphalt runway, oriented 15/33, . Its apron provides parking space for two turboprop aircraft, like the ATR 72, and Dash 8 Series 400, while its terminal building can handle 100 passengers, 50 in the arrival area and 50 in the departure area. Due to its shorter runway as well as high altitude, the airport has a load penalty and aircraft at this airport are not allowed to take-off with full capacity, leading to under-utilization and higher airfares on this route.

Navigational aids include precision approach path indicator (PAPI) lights and VHF omnidirectional range (DVOR). The DVOR was installed in 2016, which reduced the minimum runway visibility requirement for aircraft landing at the airport from . The airport falls in Category II(c) of International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) standards due to limited instrument landing system (ILS) capabilities.

Expansion plans and delays

In October 2013, for first time, the issue of expansion of Kangra Airport came up officially, when Ministry of Civil Aviation hinted at expanding Gaggal Airport and conducting a fresh survey for expansion of the airport. In August 2014, the District Administration was ordered to carry out the expansion survey and wrote to the Airports Authority of India (AAI) in this regard. Following this, a team of AAI Officials visited the airport in May 2015 for feasibility study and identification of land required.

In 2019, the team visited the adjacent area of the airport and identified the land for expanding the runway from . However, this proposed expansion would require total of and would mean displacement of almost all of the Gaggal Township which is located about from the Airport and lies directly in the proposed path of airstrip expansion. As a result, in January and February 2020, there were demonstrations by the locals against the government.

In March 2021, Obstruction Level Survey (OLS) for proposed expansion was carried out by AAI. In the revised survey of AAI, the length of runway was to be expanded to , by first constructing a bridge over the Manjhi River, which flows in between the Gaggal township and the airport. Thereafter, the runway is to be expanded to by acquiring the land beyond Gaggal township, cutting through National Highway 154, which would also require the realignment of the highway.

In March 2022, AAI came up with a two phase expansion plan for Kangra Airport.

*In Phase 1, the runway is to be expanded by around , from current , which would require construction of a runway bridge over the Manjhi River, just short of Gaggal township. If first phase is completed, it will help turboprop airplanes in taking off and landing at the Gaggal airport with full capacity without load penalty.

*In Phase 2, the runway is to be increased by , taking the increased length of runway from . This expansion will enable narrow bodied turbofan aircraft like Airbus-320/330 and Boeing 737 to easily operate from this airport. This would not only providea major boost to the tourism sector for Kangra district, but would also serve Chamba, Hamirpur and Una districts.

A total of Rs 400 Crores were recommended by the Fifteenth Finance Commission for the expansion of Kangra Airport, which have been granted by the Central Government.

Proposed expansion plans

Last year, the expansion plans were released to general public so that they can plan accordingly to rehabilitate or relocate to newer places.

Airlines and destinations

Statistics

References

External links

*

Kangra (Gaggal) Airport
at Airports Authority of India web site

{{Airports in India

Airports in Himachal Pradesh
Transport in Dharamshala
Transport in Kangra, Himachal Pradesh
Airports with year of establishment missing