Narnaul Airport ( hi, script=Latn, nārnaul vimāntal), also Bachhod Airstrip, is an airstrip adjacent to Bhilwara village 10 km east of Narnaul city in the Indian state of

Haryana Haryana (; ) is an Indian state located in the northern part of the country. It was carved out of the former state of East Punjab on 1 Nov 1966 on a linguistic basis. It is ranked 21st in terms of area, with less than 1.4% () of India's land ar ...

.Narnaul airstrip in Bachhod village, Publication: www.totaltv.com.in, Publication Date: 25-jul-2016, Accessed: 31-mar-2017
/ref> The airstrip is used mainly by Rajiv Gandhi National Centre for Aero Sports, which was inaugurated in 2010. The airstrip is owned by the Civil Aviation Department of Haryana government. Its ICAO code is VINL as listed in India AIP May 2023.

History

In 1948, first airstrip was built in Haryana when

Ambala Air Force Station Ambala () is a city and a municipal corporation in Ambala district in the state of Haryana, India, located on the border with the Indian state of Punjab and in proximity to both states capital Chandigarh. Politically, Ambala has two sub-area ...

was established. Narnaul was established later in.

Infrastructure

Narnaul Airport has one hangar as well as one admin block cum VIP lounge.EOI for HICA
Haryana Civil Aviation Department, accessed 15 August 2021. Its

runway According to the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), a runway is a "defined rectangular area on a land aerodrome prepared for the landing and takeoff of aircraft". Runways may be a man-made surface (often asphalt concrete, as ...

in 09/27 direction has runway dimension of . Airports Authority of India lists its runway strip dimension as 1058 x 23 m including leading space at front and back of runway. The airport has an admin-cum-VIP lounge and one hangar, but does not have night landing facility. It does not have any control tower and has no scheduled flights. The Airports Authority of India lists its ICAO code as VI20 which is wrong because VI20 code is for Bhilwara airstrip.

Rajiv Gandhi National Centre for Aero Sports

On 31 January 2010, the ''Rajiv Gandhi National Centre for Aero Sports'' was inaugurated at Narnaul Airport. 51 acres were acquired for this purpose.Aerosports center in Haryana, Publication: www.sify.conm, Published on: 14-nov2010, Accessed: 31-mar-2017
/ref> Chief Minister

Bhupinder Singh Hooda Bhupinder Singh Hooda (born 15 September 1947) is an Indian National Congress politician who is the current Leader of the Opposition in Haryana Legislative Assembly. He also served as the Chief Minister of Haryana from 2005 to 2014. When he b ...

and Aero Club of India President Satish Sharma were present at the inauguration ceremony. The centre was set up by Aero Club of India and the Department of Civil Aviation, Haryana. It is the first ever modern state-of-the-art aero sports centre in India to provide training in comprehensive range of various aero sports, including para-jumping (simulated parachute jump from a tower),

parasailing Parasailing, also known as parascending, paraskiing or parakiting, is a recreational kiting activity where a person is towed behind a vehicle while attached to a specially designed canopy wing that resembles a parachute, known as a parasail ...

hot air ballooning Hot air ballooning is the activity of flying hot air balloons. Attractive aspects of ballooning include the exceptional quiet (except when the propane burners are firing), the lack of a feeling of movement, and the bird's-eye view. Since the b ...

gliding Gliding is a recreational activity and competitive air sport in which pilots fly unpowered aircraft known as gliders or sailplanes using naturally occurring currents of rising air in the atmosphere to remain airborne. The word ''soaring'' is al ...

, power flying, sky diving, aero modelling and micro light flying, with the purpose of introducing the state's youth to aviation and providing the general population a cheap opportunity to experience aero sports.

Sky diving

Haryana govt has authorized the ''Pioneer Flying Academy'' to offer

tandem skydiving Tandem skydiving or tandem parachuting refers to a type of parachuting, skydiving where a student skydiver is connected to an instructor via a harness. The instructor guides the student through the whole jump from exit through freefall, canopy ...

and static line jumps from a

Cessna 172 The Cessna 172 Skyhawk is an American four-seat, single-engine, high wing, fixed-wing aircraft made by the Cessna Aircraft Company.

aircraft.Skydiving aero sports at Haryana's Bachhod airstrip
Business Standard, Nov 2018. In 2023, 1200 recreational skydives were performed at Narnaul airport.देश का सबसे मॉर्डन और बड़ा हेली हब गुरुग्राम में बनेगा, डिप्टी सीएम ने केंद्र को भेजा प्रस्ताव
khabarfast.com, 20 jan 2024.

Future development

The finance minister of Haryana, while presenting the Government of Haryana 2018-19 budget in March 2018 announced that the funds have been allocated to extend the existing 3000 feet runway to 5000 feet and parking hangar for the spillover aircraft from IGI Delhi airport will be constructed.haryana budgest 2018-19

Times of India ''The Times of India'', also known by its abbreviation ''TOI'', is an Indian English language, English-language daily newspaper and digital news media owned and managed by The Times Group. It is the List of newspapers in India by circulation, t ...

, 9 March 2018. As of January 2019, construction of hangar is underway. Night landing facilities and hangar will also be built as airlines have approached the Haryana government to park their "Non-scheduled Air Operations" (NSOP) spillover aircarafts from the congested IGI airport at Delhi to Bhiwani and Narnaul airport. Consequently, all five existing government airports in Haryana will be developed to have runway of at least 5000 feet, night landing and parking hangars.All five airports in state to be developed expanded
The Tribune 8 Jan 2019.

References

{{Asia in topic, List of airports in Defunct airports in India Bhiwani district Airports in Haryana Airports with year of establishment missing