Hisar airport in northern India opened to scheduled traffic on September 3, 2019, with SpiceJet (SG, Delhi International) geared to become the first airline serving the city, Indian media outlets have reported.
The airport was inaugurated by the Chief Minister of the Haryana State, Manohar Lal, who flew to Hisar from Chandigarh onboard a Beech (twin turboprop) King Air C90 operated by Pinnacle Air (Delhi International).
"The UDAN [Ude Desh ka Har Nagarik] regional connectivity scheme launched today in Haryana will allow people to fly from Hisar to Chandigarh in 45 minutes. With the completion of the expansion work in the Integrated Aviation Hub in Hisar within two months, an 18-seater plane will be operational. Flights to numerous parts of India will soon commence. The Air Shuttle Services & Flying Training Organisation is also being set up at Hisar airport by SpiceJet for the training of at least 100 cadet pilots per year, initially," Lal said on Twitter.
The Times of India has reported that SpiceJet will launch ticket sales for Hisar flights on September 9, without disclosing the planned schedule. The UDAN rights for the Hisar-Chandigarh and Hisar-Delhi International routes were initially awarded to Pinnacle Air with a planned frequency of 6x weekly roundtrips on each route.
SpiceJet did not respond to ch-aviation's question as to whether it would wet-lease capacity from Pinnacle Air to operate the route.
Hisar airport is managed by the Haryana Institute of Civil Aviation (HICA) and is already a significant training and gliding centre. It is the only airport in Haryana, given the fact that Chandigarh, despite being the state's formal capital, is actually a union territory governed directly by the central government and is also the capital of neighbouring Punjab.
The regional government plans to extend the airport's runway from the current 1,219 metres in stages to 3,048 metres to allow larger aircraft to operate to and from Hisar.
