In response to a Punjab and Haryana High Court question on why there are just two international flights from the Shaheed Bhagat Singh International Airport in Mohali, the Centre has said that it does not interfere in commercial operations of airlines and that the airlines are free to choose markets and destinations within the ambit of Bilateral Air Services Agreements (BASA) between India and another country, reports The Hindustan Times.

“Commercial operations of airlines are deregulated, and the Government does not regulate or interfere with the operational plans of the airlines. Accordingly, the airlines are free to select whatever markets and networks they wish to service and operate within the ambit of BASA (based on which seat capacity etc. is decided),” an affidavit by V Vualnam, secretary, ministry of civil aviation, Government of India, stated.

“There is also no explanation from the Chandigarh International Airport Authority Limited as to why there are only two international flights from Chandigarh (UT and capital of two prosperous states) on a daily basis… It is unfortunate to note that even a district headquarter like Amritsar has more than 14 international flights to various countries,” the court had observed while seeking affidavit from the Aviation Secretary.

The court was hearing a public interest litigation (PIL), pending since December 2015, when it was approached by the Mohali Industries Association, alleging lack of facilities at the airport. Since then, the HC has been monitoring the progress of various projects at the airport.

Inaugurated on September 15, 2015, by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the new terminal has been built at an estimated cost of INR 1,400 crore. While initially, there were only 40-odd flights, the number has now gone up to 90, including two to international destinations — Dubai and Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

“The Hon’able court may also kindly note than any operation of the international flight from any point in India is purely a commercial decision of the airline on the basis of the economic viability of the route, traffic demand, slot availability and other associated factors,” the aviation secretary said, adding that India has open sky arrangements for bilateral air services with a number of countries including USA and UK, whereby foreign designated carriers may operate to/ from any point in India, which includes Chandigarh.

As per the officer, Indian carriers were asked about plans to start international flights from Chandigarh, but the airlines responded in the negative. The airlines told the Centre that they do not have any immediate plans to add any more international flights to/from Chandigarh in addition to the existing operational international schedule but would evaluate feasibility in the future.

On the issue of steps taken by it for increasing international flights, the Punjab government has said that it had requested Centre in 2019 to include Chandigarh in the list of cities covered under Open Sky Policy for Airlines from ASEAN countries, which liberalises travel to the notified cities without restriction of reciprocatory/ or the need for bi-lateral agreements. However, the Centre has not included the Chandigarh airport in that list. Follow-up letters were also written but the Centre has not yielded.

In one of the letters written in 2022, on the issue in response to the demand raised by the state government in that year, the Centre told the state government that India has an open sky agreement with the United Kingdom, which permits designated carriers to operate seven services per week to and from any non-metro airport and Chandigarh is also in the list of such airports. In the same letter, the Centre also said that Chandigarh is not available as a point of call for Canada and thus, Canadian carriers cannot operate direct flights to and from Chandigarh, the affidavit from Malwinder Singh Jaggi, Secretary, Department of Civil Aviation, said. (Source: Hindustan Times)