Hisar Airport

Hisar is a Counter Magnet City within the National Capital Region inside the influence zone of Delhi Mumbai Industrial Corridor Project (DMIC).[4] The main gate of the airport will be relocated to Hisar-Barwala-Chandigarh NH 52.[5]

In Hisar city itself, the airport is about 4 km from the bus station along the National Highway 9, 5 km from the city center and 6 km from the Hisar Junction railway station.

Hisar Airport rail line: Existing Hisar-Jakhal line will be extended to Hisar airport as integrated transport hub, DPR will be ready soon (dec 2018 update).[6][7] Airport will have an underground railway station, and Indian Railway has agreed to commence the construction with the commencement of phase-III of airport.[8]

Airport lies on Delhi bypass in Hisar city on NH 9 Abohar-Delhi route, which is being upgraded from the four-lane to six-lane barrier free access controlled expressway to enhance its connectivity with Delhi.[2] The NH 52 Chandigarh-Rajgarh-Jaipur also passes next to the airport.

The airport is being developed on more than 7,200 acres (2,900 ha) land. In June 2017, the 4,200 acres (1,700 ha) Beed Hisar land contiguous to the existing airstrip was transferred to the airport in June 2017.[9] In December 2018, government also initiated the process to transfer additional 3,000 acres (1,200 ha) adjacent land of Government Livestock Farm in the Talwandi Rana village, adjacent to Lala Lajpat Rai University of Veterinary and Animal Sciences to be used for developing the commercial, industrial and hospitality zone of integrated aerocity, which will bring the total land for the development of aerocity to 7,200 acres.[5][7] This 3000 acre land around Talwandi Rana Minor Canal lies between Hisar-Barwala-Chandigarh NH 52, Delhi-Hisar-Sirsa NH 9 and Hisar Northern bypass.[5]

The brownfield (existing) airports require fewer overall clearances with no need for the site clearance for the upgrade from domestic to international airports. Once upgraded to an international airport by the Government of Haryana, Hisar airport will only requires permission to start international flights from the centre. Hence, the earlier proposal sent to the centre for developing it as greenfield international airport, requiring excessive approvals, was withdrawn. It is now being upgraded by the state govt, in technical collaboration with the centre govt, as brownfield international airport.[15] In 2016, Frost and Sullivan completed a feasibility study for the development of an integrated aviation hub including an international airport in 3 phases.[9]

The airport has been upgraded for the UDAN domestic flights with technical collaboration with AAI,[2] which was mostly completed by December 2018,[9] The upgrade included new terminal building, 3 hangars, strengthening of runway, installation of night flying equipments, perimeter flood lights, security equipments and arrangements, widening of approach road to four lanes, etc.,[9][16][17] with a cumulative total of more than ₹3 billion (equivalent to ₹3.2 billion, US$45 million or €42 million in 2019) allocation from the Haryana government during the 2016–17, 2017–18 and 2018–19 state budgets.[9][16][18][19][20][21]

The runway will be extended from 4,000 feet (1,219 m) to 6,000 feet (1,829 m) to accommodate turboprop aircraft (such as the ATR 72) and jets (such as the Boeing 737 and Airbus A320),[22] for sub-basing parking hub operations of airlines, Maintenance, repair, and operations (MRO) and defence manufacturing.[9][16][23][24] As of Sept 2019, this phase is under construction and will be completed by October end, after which 18 seater turboprop aircraft will be able to serve this airport which is currently served by 6 or 7 seater aircraft.[14]

On 28 Feb 2018, Civil Aviation minister announced that Hisar will become India's largest international airport, feasibility report of which has been completed, and AAI will submit the proposal for the further work to the Ministry of Civil Aviation.[25] A DPR (detailed project report) by AAI is underway and after the completion of which bids will be invited within 18 months [within 2019] for developing an International Aviation Hub with Aerospace Manufacturing, Aviation Training Centre and Aviation University, International Airport and Commercial and Residential Aerotropolis.[9][16]

In April 2017, Chief Minister of Haryana informed that the Government of India had not yet approved Haryana government's proposal to convert Hisar airport to an International airport. In the meanwhile, Haryana government is independently and actively pursuing with the private and public sector companies to set up their base in the Hisar integrated aviation industrial park.[26][27] In May 2017, the Taj International Airport, at Jewar (56 kilometres (35 mi) from Noida) in Gautam Budh Nagar district of Uttar Pradesh, was granted approval by the union government cabinet as the second airport for the NCR, to be built by 2022-23 with a capacity to handle 30-50 million passengers per year. This led to the protest from the politicians of Haryana for ignoring Hisar airport for the development.[28][29][30]

[31] The international airport will not be completed by 2024.[32]

Students in Hisar have been running a campaign to collect and submit 111,000 signatures supporting the plea to the Prime Minister of India to name the airport after Shaheed Bhagat Singh Sandhu.[33]