Night Operations at Indore Airport To Be Closed for a Year. Know Why

Indore, which has set an example by being the cleanest city in the country, has now embarked on a new mission. For this, airlines and passengers have to face trouble for a short while. The runway of Devi Ahilyabai Holkar International Airport, Indore is going to be repaired. The repair work will commence from February 2025. Hence flight operations at the airport will remain closed between late at night to morning for a year.

The Airport Authority will spend more than Rs 25 crore for this repair work. The condition of the runway is not good. The entire existing runway surface will be removed and replaced with a new layer, similar to the process of laying an asphalt road. This is called runway resurfacing or runway re-carpeting .

The last major resurfacing of the runway was done in 2017. However, due to the deteriorating condition caused by continuous flight operations, the resurfacing work is being undertaken again. While minor repairs are carried out throughout the year, the complete resurfacing will take approximately one year to finish. The Airport Authority has issued a tender for this project, with a budget of Rs 25.27 crore allocated for the work.

Although the runway is modest in size, the repair work is expected to take a year. The current runway at Indore Airport measures 2,750 metres, that is, 2.75 kilometres, in length. During the resurfacing, the entire existing asphalt layer will be completely removed and replaced with a new layer which will be four to five inches thick. Following this, signage and lighting will be installed at the runway, similar to that of roads.

The resurfacing work will be done at night owing to which flight operations will be suspended during these hours. The tender for the resurfacing project is set for October 1. The work is scheduled to commence on February 2025 and continue for a year.

Due to heavy flight traffic during the day, the work will be carried out between midnight and 6 am, affecting late-night and early-morning flights. Airlines have been instructed not to operate late-night flights for a year starting from February 2025. Existing flights have to be rescheduled.

Currently, IndiGo operates flights to Bangalore, Pune, and early-morning services to Mumbai and Ahmedabad during these hours. These are likely to be rescheduled in the upcoming winter.