Adampur Airport
Adampur Airport, Jalandhar is located at Adampur Town of Jalandhar district in Northern India, on the Jalandhar-Hoshiarpur main highway 23 km (14 mi) northeast of Jalandhar, Punjab, India.
Civil Airport , Adampur, Jalandhar | |||||||||||
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 Adampur Airport terminal building being built up. | |||||||||||
| Summary | |||||||||||
| Airport type | Military/ Public | ||||||||||
| Operator | AAI , Indian Air Force | ||||||||||
| Serves | Jalandhar | ||||||||||
| Location | Jalandhar, Punjab, India | ||||||||||
| Elevation AMSL | 776 ft / 236 m | ||||||||||
| Coordinates | 31°25′59″N 075°45′38″E | ||||||||||
| Map | |||||||||||
  AIP Location of the airport in Punjab  AIP AIP (India) | |||||||||||
| Runways | |||||||||||
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History of Airforce Station
Adampur Air Force Station, Jalandhar is also situated here. It is the second largest military airbase of India. It lies within 100 km (62 mi) of the Indo-Pak Border and is home to No. 47 Squadron IAF and No. 223 Squadron IAF.
Jalandhar Airport is a very old base station. The base played a crucial role in the Indo-Pakistani War of 1965. On 6 September 1965, the PAF attacked Indian airfields at Pathankot AFS, Halwara AFS & Adampur AFS, Jalandhar. The attacks on Halwara and Adampur were failures. The Strike group turned back before even reaching Adampur.
On 7 September 1965, the PAF parachuted 135 Special Services Group (SSG) para commandos[1] at three Indian airfields (Halwara, Pathankot and Adampur).[2] The daring attempt proved to be an "unmitigated disaster". Only ten commandos were able to return to Pakistan,[2] the rest were taken as prisoners of war (including one of the Commanders of the operations, Major Khalid Butt). At Adampur these troops landed in residential areas where the villagers caught and handed them over to police.[2]
The Indo-Pakistani War of 1971 on western front started with Operation Chengiz Khan on 3 December 1971. Pathankot Air Force Station was hit and runway heavily damaged. Pathankot was covered by interceptors from Adampur AFS, Jalandhar following this first strike during the time it took the ground crew to repair its runway.[3]
During 1999 Kargil Conflict flying from Adampur AFS, Jalandhar, Mirages of No. 7 Squadron IAF struck Tigerhill, Muntho Dhalo and Tololing.
Aircraft
The civil airport at Adampur till now has operated only one aircraft i.e. De Havilland Canada DHC-8 earlier known as Bombardier Q400. It was operated by Spicejet under the UDAN RCS Scheme of the government of India.
Jalandhar Air Force Station operates MiG-29UPG variant after recently completed overhauls to the older B/UB fleet.
Civil enclave
The Airports Authority of India has built a passenger terminal at a cost of ₹ 18 crore[4] at Kandola village of Jalandhar district adjoining the airbase to facilitate commercial civil aviation. The Central Government had cleared the techno-feasibility report for setting up the Adampur Airport, Jalandhar in July 2015 after AAI had inspected the proposed site of 50 acres of land after receiving No Objection Certificate from Indian Air Force.[5][6][7][8] Commercial flights started on 1 May 2018 when SpiceJet began operations under the UDAN Regional Connectivity Service (RCS) of the Government of India.
See also
References
- "The 1965 War: A view from the east". Rediff news. Retrieved 21 November 2011.
- Pratap Chandra Lal (1986). My years with the IAF. Lancer Publishers. p. 138. ISBN 978-81-7062-008-2.
- "My years with the IAF" by Air Chief Marshal P C Lal
- "A year gone, Adampur airport, Jalandhar awaits take-off". The Tribune. 17 January 2018. Retrieved 8 April 2018.
- AAI team examines proposed site for Adampur airport
- Punjab to build new domestic airport at Adampur
- Commercial Status for Adampur Airport Soon: Sukhbir Singh Badal
- Clamour grows for domestic airport at Adampur