The Kalaburagi airport, that aims to connect one of the four divisional headquarters of Karnataka with the rest of the country is likely to commence operations in November. The state government had planned to inaugurate the airport on Kannada Rajyotsava on 1 November.
“I think that in November we should be able to commence operations,” Sharat.B, deputy commissioner of Kalaburagi, said. Officials from the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) visited the airport in October but are yet to submit their report, according to Kalaburagi district officials.
Spread over 742 acre and built at a cost of Rs 172 crore, the airport is part of the Centre’s UDAN (Hindi acronym for Ude Desh ka Aam Nagrik) scheme that aims to provide air connectivity to underserved parts of the country through a demand-driven scheme, subsidised by the central and state governments. Several airlines have expressed interest operating flights to Kalaburagi that borders Maharashtra and Telangana.
“As it looks, it (commencing of flights) would be within November,” said Simran Singh Tiwana, chief executive at Star Air (Ghodawat Enterprises Private Limited), the aviation arm of Maharashtra-headquartered Sanjay Ghodawat Group (SGG). The airline, which has two 50 seater Embraer EMB-145 aircraft in its fleet, plans to operate around eight flights per week initially and later expand depending on demand, Tiwana said.
Star Air has already announced operations between Hubballi in North Karnataka and Hindon (New Delhi) from 6 November. Alliance Air, a subsidiary of state-owned Air India, is also hoping to commence operations next month, according to an 18 October report in The Indian Express.
“One of the aspects is that air connectivity will help us position ourselves as an investment destination,” said Priyank Kharge, former minister and Congress legislator from Chittapur in Kalaburagi district. Kharge said it could be a very profitable route since there were considerable road and rail traffic between Kalaburagi and Bengaluru, among other places in the state.
Currently, the closest airport is at Hyderabad in Telangana – an over three-hour drive from Kalaburagi.
However, Kharge expressed doubts over the airport commencing operations next month, with authorities yet to call for bids for various equipment required to run an airport.
