Mohali, May 16 -- Three days after operations at Shaheed Bhagat Singh International Airport resumed on May 12 following a ceasefire pact between India and Pakistan, the airport has started inching back towards normalcy, with 44 flights departing and arriving on Thursday. A total of three airlines operate from the airport - IndiGo, Air India and Alliance Air. But they had opted not to fly to or from Chandigarh on Monday and Tuesday in the absence of sufficient passenger load. On Wednesday, the number of flights went up to 10, with partial occupancy, further rising to a promising 44 on Thursday. Chandigarh International Airport Limited (CHIAL) CEO Ajay Kumar confirmed, "As many as 44 flights operated on Thursday and we are expecting normal operations from Friday." On May 7, all 52 civilian flights at the airport were suspended after the Indian Air Force took control of the facility in response to intelligence inputs suggesting potential strikes on military installations by Pakistan, hitting operations for seven straight days. Shaheed Bhagat Singh International Airport caters to several major domestic destinations, including Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, Mumbai, Kolkata, Delhi, Goa, Hyderabad, Indore, Leh, Jaipur, Lucknow, Chennai, Patna, and Pune. It also operates two international flights to Dubai and Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates, handling an average daily footfall of around 10,000 passengers. The civil terminal is managed by the Airports Authority of India (AAI) in collaboration with the Punjab and Haryana governments. However, the runway and air traffic control are managed by the Chandigarh Air Force Station....