Representative image showing an airport.
Credit: Pixabay Photo
The plan for setting up Bengaluru’s second international airport, which is in the site selection phase, is gathering momentum. Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar on Tuesday said the government is considering the second airport in south Bengaluru.
Here is what we know so far on the three shortlisted sites, what the Airports Authority of India report says about them, and the hurdles that need to be cleared before the project takes off.
Shortlisted sites
In March 2025, the State government shortlisted three locations for the second international airport: two near Kaggalipura and Harohalli, along Kanakapura Road, in the south and one on Kunigal Road in northwest of Bengaluru.
The locations identified are two adjacent land parcels of 4,800 acres and 5,000 acres along Kanakapura Road and a 5,200-acre land on Kunigal Road near Nelamangala.
AAI team visits sites
A six-member team from the Airports Authority of India (AAI) visited the three sites in April to finalise the airport location.
In its pre-feasibility report submitted to the government, the AAI team did not recommend a specific site but identified a range of challenges across all three proposed locations.
The report highlighted that the “aircraft movement will be constrained due to restricted airspace” at all three sites proposed by the government.
All three locations comprise both hard and soft rocky terrain, “presenting significant challenges during execution,” the report said.
While the locations near Kanakapura have hills on the eastern and western sides, the Nelamangala location has hills on the north-eastern and western sides.
These obstacles must be “evaluated to determine whether they pose potential obstacles to safe air navigation. Any hill within the site boundary that is identified as an obstacle will require levelling,” said the report.
Govt to commission detailed study
According to Large and Medium Industries Minister M B Patil, the AAI report is for reference purposes only and the State government will commission its own detailed techno-economic and financial feasibility study by private consultants. The final decision will be merit-based and require the Cabinet's approval, he has said.
Earmarking airspace
Then, there is the issue of earmarking airspace for the proposed airport as the airspace over the city is controlled by Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) and the Air Force Station at Yelahanka. Earmarking airspace will require complex coordination and regulatory clearances.
Need for second airport
The Kempegowda International Airport (KIA) at Devanahalli near Bengaluru is the busiest airport in south India and handled 32.4 million passengers in the first nine months of 2025, according to Fairfax India Holdings Corporation's interim report for the nine months that ended on September 30.
The airport, which started operations in 2008, is projected to reach its capacity by the early 2030s, necessitating a second airport to manage future traffic.
However, an agreement in place between Bangalore International Airport Ltd, which operates KIA, and the Union government bars development or upgrading of another international airport within a 150-km aerial radius until May 2033.
The current groundwork is preparatory so that the new airport can be operational after this exclusivity clause expires. To get the airport operational by then would require the government to finalise the location as soon as possible as the processes of land acquisition, environmental clearances and resettlement plan takes a long time.