Despite being finished for almost four years, Bathinda airport has yet to handle any flights. But Air India has announced that it will be launching a Delhi International-Bathinda-Delhi service beginning December 11, 2016. The service will run using an ATR72-600 on Mondays, Thursday and Saturdays.
The announcement comes a week after officials from Air India (AI, Delhi International) and Alliance Air (India) (9I, Delhi International) met with local representatives to assess the viability of starting flights in the region.
The airport is located twenty kilometres northwest of Bhatinda, Punjab, India. While it has a 2,800 metre runway, the apron is only capable of accommodating two fifty-seater aircraft. The terminal has a VIP lounge, two check-in counters and a thirty-seater security hold. The closest airports are Amritsar, which is 98 kilometres away, and Chandigarh (203 km).
Despite a 20% increase in air traffic in 2015, non-functioning airports remain a problem in India. There are thirty-one across the country, at a cost of around INR30 billion (USD440 million).
