Pathankot Air Force Station

Pathankot Air Force Station पठानकोट हवाई अड्डा ਪਠਾਨਕੋਟ ਹਵਾਈ ਅੱਡਾ
IATA: IXP – ICAO: VIPK IXP Location of airport in India
Summary
Airport type	Military
Owner	Government of India
Operator	Indian Air Force
Serves	Pathankot
Location	Pathankot, Punjab, India
Opened	November 21, 2006 (civil)
Elevation AMSL	1,017 ft / 310 m
Coordinates	32°14′01″N 075°38′04″E / 32.23361°N 75.63444°E
Website	www.aai.aero/allAirports/pathankot.jsp
Runways
Direction Length Surface ft m 01/19 8,970 2,734 Asphalt

Pathankot Air Force Station (IATA: IXP, ICAO: VIPK) is a military airport located 3 km from Pathankot, India, on the Pathankot – Majra Road. It is part of the Western Air Command of the Indian Air Force and covers an area of approximately 2000 acres (809.3 hectares).

Civil enclave

The civil enclave at the airport was inaugurated by the civil aviation minister at the time, Praful Patel, on November 21, 2006.^[1] The facility was created by the efforts of Gurdaspur Member of Parliament, Bollywood film actor Vinod Khanna,^[2][3] who had planned to make Pathankot a tourist spot and industrial hub.^[4] No domestic flights operate to the airport.^[4][5]

Incidents

On 2 January 2016, six heavily armed terrorists suspected to belong to Islamist militant group Jaish-e-Mohammed attacked the Air Force Station. The terrorists were wearing Indian Army fatigues and rode a stolen car of a superintendent of the Punjab Police. All six terrorists and seven security forces personnel were killed in the gun battle on 4th January.^[6]

References

1. "The Tribune, Chandigarh, India - Punjab".
2. "Vinod Khanna".
3. Vinod Khanna
4. "Pathankot airport plain empty". Hindustan Times.
5. "8 airports in India have no scheduled flights, loss in 3 years Rs 82 crore". dna. 30 November 2014.
6. "Terrorists storm air force base, first challenge to Modi’s Pak outreach". The Hindu. Retrieved 2 January 2016.