Uttarakhand: In a significant development, the Uttarakhand government on Thursday said that the Indian Air Force will operate the airport located at Naini Saini in the Pithoragarh border district. The announcement was made by State Chief Secretary SS Sandhu. As per the Uttarakhand Chief Secretary, both military and civilian flights will be able to operate simultaneously from the airport once the IAF takes over the airport. It may be recalled that the proposal to hand over the airport to the IAF was first mooted in October last year. District Magistrate Pithorgarh Ashish Chauhan had on October 3 last year said that the Naini Saini airport in Pithoragarh may be handed over to the Indian Air Force for “better management” of the facility.
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The preceding day, Chief Secretary SS Sandhu visited the area to take up the proposal with the higher-ups. The 1,600-metre Pithorgarh airstrip was built in 1991 initially for administrative use. Eight years later in 1999, the airstrip was upgraded to an airport to operate civilian flights. The Uttarakhand government's decision to hand over the airport to the IAF comes after the Airports Authority of India's disinterest in managing the airport due to “poor commercial viability”.
The first commercial flight was flagged off at the airport on October 8, 2018, by Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and the then Uttarakhand Chief Minister Trivendra Singh Rawat. The first commercial flight was operated between Pithoragarh and Hindon airport on the outskirts of Delhi. The latest decision of the Uttarakhand government to hand over the airport operations to the IAF is expected to help both the Indian Air Force as well as the locals.
