A new chapter for youth aviation in the hills: Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu on Monday, 26 October 2026, inaugurated the expanded section of the National Cadet Corps (NCC) hangar at Bhuntar Airport in Kullu district — a move the Chief Minister says will open fresh skies for the state's young people.

What the Bhuntar hangar expansion means for NCC cadets

Bhuntar Airport, officially the Kullu-Manali Airport, is the gateway to one of India's most visited hill tourism corridors. The NCC operates aviation wings at select airports across the country, giving school and college students their first exposure to aircraft handling, air navigation and flying fundamentals — training that can feed directly into careers with commercial airlines, the Indian Air Force, or the civil aviation sector.

The expanded hangar gives NCC cadets more physical space for aircraft maintenance drills, ground instruction, and potentially additional light aircraft. In a state where geography limits surface connectivity, that practical edge matters. CM Sukhu specifically called out young people's 'dreams taking new flight' — 'अपने सपनों को नई उड़ान देने' — framing the infrastructure upgrade as a youth-skilling intervention as much as a construction project.

Himachal's incremental airport push and the UDAN connection

The inauguration fits a broader pattern of incremental airport capacity-building across India's hill states. The central government's UDAN regional connectivity scheme, launched in 2016, has channelled viability-gap funding to smaller airports — including those in Himachal Pradesh — to sustain scheduled operations and support ground infrastructure. Bhuntar's hangar expansion is precisely the kind of phased, facility-level upgrade that complements UDAN's route-level push.

Himachal Pradesh's economy leans heavily on tourism and horticulture. Better air infrastructure shortens the journey to Kullu-Manali for domestic and international tourists, reduces seasonal bottlenecks, and over time can attract cargo operations that benefit fruit farmers in the valley. The NCC hangar, specifically, adds a skilling dimension: a pipeline of aviation-literate youth from the hills who might otherwise never encounter a cockpit.

CM Sukhu's development pitch for 'Dev Bhoomi'

Since taking office in December 2022, Chief Minister Sukhu has consistently branded infrastructure projects through the lens of youth opportunity — a political language that resonates in a state with a significant young population and limited local employment in formal sectors. The choice to inaugurate the NCC hangar personally, and to frame it on social media as a development milestone, underscores how aviation connectivity has become a marquee issue for the state government.

Whether this expansion accelerates fresh scheduled flight announcements or triggers the next phase of works at Bhuntar — or at other Himachal airports — will be the real measure of the state's aviation ambitions.