Air India Express will resume direct non-stop flights between Chandigarh’s Shaheed Bhagat Singh International Airport and Sharjah from October 26, adding a third international route to an airport that has been at the centre of a decade-long political battle over its limited global connectivity.The airline has placed the Chandigarh-Sharjah service in its winter schedule as a four-days-a-week operation — Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday — marking the return of a route that was suspended in 2023.The outbound flight, IX 453, departs Chandigarh at 1.50 pm and arrives Sharjah at 4.50 pm in a non-stop sector of four hours and 30 minutes. The return service, IX 454, departs Sharjah at 5:50 PM and lands at Chandigarh at 11.05 pm in three hours and 45 minutes. One-way fares are available from approximately Rs 17,820 for the Chandigarh-Sharjah sector.A third route — and a pointed backdropThe announcement is significant on two counts.First, Sharjah is a high-demand destination for the Punjabi diaspora. The UAE emirate hosts a large concentration of workers, traders and settled families with roots in Punjab, Haryana and Himachal Pradesh, and its airport serves as an entry point into the wider UAE. The route’s suspension in 2023 had left a gap that passengers from the region had been filling by travelling to Delhi or Amritsar. Its resumption directly addresses a sustained demand.Second, and more pointedly, the timing of the announcement lands just six weeks after the Union government told Parliament that no slot request from any airline operator was pending with Chandigarh Airport. In a written reply to a Rajya Sabha question from BJP MP Satnam Singh Sandhu on August 3, 2026, Minister of State for Civil Aviation Murlidhar Mohol confirmed that while all infrastructure and compliance requirements for international operations were in place — customs, immigration and Airport Health Organisation facilities all operational — no carrier had filed a slot request with the airport.The Air India Express winter schedule filing for the Chandigarh-Sharjah route directly contradicts the spirit, if not the precise timing, of that picture.What the route adds — and what it cannotWith this addition, Chandigarh airport will operate three international routes: Dubai (IndiGo), Abu Dhabi (IndiGo), and now Sharjah (Air India Express). All three are operated by Indian carriers — and that distinction matters.As the government has explained in successive parliamentary replies, Indian carriers such as IndiGo and Air India Express face no ‘Point of Call’ (PoC) restriction. Under India’s Bilateral Air Services Agreements (BASA), an Indian airline can fly internationally from any airport designated as an international airport — and Chandigarh qualifies. It is only foreign carriers — Emirates, Lufthansa, Air Canada, Singapore Airlines — that require PoC designation on India’s bilateral offer lists before they can legally operate to and from Chandigarh.The resumption of the Chandigarh-Sharjah route, in this sense, is both a development and a reminder. It demonstrates that Indian carriers are willing to commit to Chandigarh for international operations when the commercial case stacks up. It also demonstrates, in the same breath, that the airport’s international growth will remain structurally constrained as long as the government withholds PoC status — because the global network of routes that passengers actually want, and that would ease the 11 to 12-hour Delhi detour, can only be unlocked by allowing foreign carriers in.The Parliamentary backdropMP Sandhu has raised the Chandigarh connectivity issue three times in the Rajya Sabha over the past 18 months. In February 2025, he demanded direct flights to London, Singapore and Vancouver. In March 2026, during Question Hour, he highlighted the 11 to 12-hour ordeal Punjabi passengers face travelling to Delhi for international flights, prompting then-Civil Aviation Minister Kinjarapu Rammohan Naidu to state that the government would examine Chandigarh’s traffic data for PoC designation — the first such public commitment. In August 2026, his unstarred question on DGCA and BCAS compliance drew the reply confirming infrastructure readiness but no pending slot requests.The Air India Express winter schedule announcement, arriving so shortly after that August reply, will add a new dimension to the conversation the next time the issue surfaces in Parliament.Airport snapshotNew route: Chandigarh ↔ Sharjah (Air India Express)Start date: October 26, 2026Flight Nos.: IX 453 (CDG–SHJ) / IX 454 (SHJ–CDG)Frequency: 4x weekly — Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, SaturdayCDG–SHJ timing: Dep 1.50 pm / Arr 4.50 pm (4h 30m, non-stop)SHJ–CDG timing: Dep 5:.50 pm / Arr 11.05 pm (3h 45m, non-stop)Fares from: Rs 17,820 (CDG–SHJ one way)Previous ops: Route operated until 2023; suspended thereafterTotal intl routes: 3 (Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Sharjah) — all Indian carriersPoC status: Not granted; foreign carriers still cannot operate