Upgraded Jammu Airport inaugurated

Jammu: The upgraded passenger terminal building of Jammu Airport, Jammu, was inaugurated by Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti recently.

P. Ashok Gajapathi Raju, Union Minister for Civil Aviation, Jayant Sinha, Union Minister of State for Civil Aviation; Dr. Jitendra Singh, Union Minister of State for Development of North Eastern Region, PMO, Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions, Atomic Energy and Space; Dr. Nirmal Kumar Singh, Deputy Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir; Kavinder Gupta, Speaker of Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Assembly; Jugal Kishore Sharma, Member of Parliament (Lok Sabha), Shamsher Singh Manhas, Member of Parliament (Rajya Sabha) and Dr. Guruprasad Mohapatra, Chairman, Airports Authority of India, were among the others who attended the event.

Jammu is the gateway city for Jammu and Kashmir and the winter capital of the state, is also popularly known as the 'City of Temples.' Bestowed with a rich heritage and cultural legacy, Jammu has promising tourism potential. The city is famous for religious tourism and the holy shrine of 'Mata Vaishno Devi' is 46 kms from the city.

Jammu Airport belongs to the Indian Air Force, Ministry of Defence and AAI maintains a Civil Enclave for civil aircraft operations.

During the year 2016-17, passenger traffic movement at Jammu Airport reached 1.16 million and the passenger growth rate has touched 29 per cent in the first quarter of 2017-18. To cope with the increasing passenger growth and demand, expansion and upgradation of the existing terminal building of Jammu Airport has been completed.

The area of the terminal building is expanded from 6700 square meters to 14,500 square meters with an upgraded peak hour handling capacity of 720 passengers at a time, an increase from the existing 360 peak hour passengers.

The upgraded passenger terminal building of Jammu Airport is a glass and steel structure and is equipped with passenger facilities and amenities like CUTE-complied check-in counters, Common Use Self-Service (CUSS) kiosk for check-in, central air-conditioning, two arrival conveyer belts, escalators and glass elevators, flight information display system and PA system with comfortable seating capacity.

For the safety and security of passengers, the terminal building is equipped with fire fighting and a fire alarm system, CCTV and baggage scanners etc.

There is a provision for the installation of three passenger boarding bridges with advanced visual docking guidance system (AVDGS) for the terminal which would increase operational efficiency besides convenience to passengers.

While inaugurating the upgraded terminal building, Ashok Gajapathi Raju said, "We believe in augmenting infrastructure of our airports to enhance connectivity. With the upgraded Jammu Airport, we would be better prepared to give improved services to air travelers visiting this city of temples."

Mehbooba Mufti said, "We have been witnessing promising growth in number of air travelers to and from Jammu. The upgraded Terminal of Jammu Airport is in line to enhance capacity and will contribute to the economic growth of Jammu — the gateway to the State."

The upgraded passenger terminal building of Jammu Airport is equipped with green features like double insulated roofing system, rainwater harvesting, 200 KLD sewage treatment plant (soil based technology), reuse of treated water for horticulture and air conditioning purposes, use of fly ash bricks, low heat gain glazing, low VOC (Volatile Organic Compound) paints, LED lighting, energy efficient chillers, VFDs (Variable Frequency Drive) for high Capacity Motors.