Starting March 30, new air services will connect Dharamsala's Gaggal Airport with Noida, Jaipur and Dehradun to cater to the growing number of people visiting the popular tourist destination in Himachal Pradesh.
The new air services will connect Dharamsala's Gaggal Airport with Noida, Jaipur and Dehradun starting March 30 (Sunday) to cater to the growing number of people visiting the popular tourist destination in Himachal Pradesh.
Noida Airport expected to begin operations by April
The current flight network from the airport connects Dharamsala with Delhi, Chandigarh and Shimla. Of the three new destinations, the Noida International Airport (NIA) in Jewar is expected to begin operations by April 2025.
"We are expanding our operations to meet passenger demand and will operate in two shifts from March 30, enabling uninterrupted flights from sunrise to sunset," Gaggal Airport director Dhirendra Singh said.
Currently, the airport operates six daily flights, which are expected to go up to 10 during the summer months. To accommodate evening services, efforts are underway to increase the number of staff besides strengthening the security arrangements in collaboration with the state police.
The upgrade will facilitate connections to metro cities such as Hyderabad, Bengaluru, Chennai and Ahmedabad in the future, potentially reducing travel costs for the passengers. Notably, there has been a long-standing demand to connect the airport with Amritsar and Buddhist pilgrimage sites such as Bodh Gaya in Bihar.
Recently, Buddhist spiritual leader the Dalai Lama, who's based in McLeodganj near Dharamsala, also batted for linking the Gaggal Airport with other Buddhist destinations.
