3 min readLudhianaUpdated: May 15, 2026 03:48 PM IST
The inaugural Air India flight from Delhi to Ludhiana landed at the newly developed Halwara Civil Terminal at 7.05 am on Friday.
Union Minister of State and senior BJP leader Ravneet Singh Bittu, along with two Rajya Sabha MPs from Punjab — philanthropist and businessman Vikramjit Sahney and Trident Group chairman Rajinder Gupta — were among the passengers on the first flight.
Both Sahney and Gupta were among the seven Rajya Sabha MPs who recently switched from the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) to the BJP.
In a post on X, Bittu said: “Ludhiana takes flight! A historic milestone reached today as we boarded the inaugural flight to Halwara Airport along with MP Vikramjit Sahney Ji and MP Rajinder Gupta Ji. Fulfilling a 30-year-old demand, this operationalisation is a massive boost for our local industry and economic growth. Huge thanks to PM Narendra Modi Ji for this visionary gift to Punjab. The sky is the limit for Ludhiana’s trade and exports.”
Ludhiana Takes Flight! 🛫
A historic milestone reached today as we boarded the inaugural flight to Halwara Airport along with MP Vikramjit Sahney Ji and MP Rajinder Gupta Ji.
Fulfilling a 30-year-old demand, this operationalization is a massive boost for our local industry… pic.twitter.com/8AtttH4mMx
— Ravneet Singh Bittu (@RavneetBittu) May 15, 2026
https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js
Around 60 passengers arrived at Halwara on the inaugural flight, including several local BJP leaders from Ludhiana who had reached Delhi on Thursday.
The Halwara airport has been developed by expanding the existing Indian Air Force (IAF) base in the Raikot subdivision of Ludhiana district.
While airport authorities had planned a “water cannon salute” to welcome the first flight at Halwara, it was dropped at the last minute due to lack of permission from the IAF.
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“There were some security issues due to which we had to drop the water cannon salute,” said Jagir Singh, chief executive officer of Halwara airport with the Airports Authority of India (AAI).
Meanwhile, celebrations were dampened for the ruling AAP in Punjab following the recent arrest of its Industry and Commerce Minister Sanjeev Arora by the Enforcement Directorate. Arora, the AAP MLA from Ludhiana West, had been vigorously pursuing the Halwara airport project and was scheduled to travel on the inaugural flight, but is currently in ED custody.
Jagraon Additional Deputy Commissioner Manjit Singh Cheema, who welcomed the first flight, said: “We had arranged traditional Punjabi folk music and dance to welcome the passengers. Nearly 60 passengers arrived on the first flight.”
According to the schedule released by Air India on its website, the Delhi-Halwara flight will operate two round trips daily. The morning flight will take off from Delhi at 5.55 am and land at Halwara at 7.05 am. From Halwara, it will depart for Delhi at 7.55 am and land in Delhi at 9.10 am.
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For the second trip, the aircraft will take off from Delhi at 12.55 pm and land at Halwara at 2.10 pm. The last flight of the day will depart from Halwara at 2.40 pm and land in Delhi at 3.55 pm.
The airport has been completed after missing several deadlines over the past eight years. The project was approved by the Punjab Cabinet under then Congress government in December 2018.
