Image showing a flight. For representational purposes.
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Chennai: Fast-tracking the ambitious Hosur airport project after identifying about 2,000 acres in Krishnagiri district, the Tamil Nadu government will apply for site clearance for the greenfield infrastructure in the next two weeks.
Site clearance is the first of many approvals needed from the Union Civil Aviation Ministry to proceed with the project, which envisages an exclusive airport for the burgeoning industrial city, adjacent to Bengaluru, with a capacity to handle 3 crore passengers annually.
Sources aware of the development told DH that the state government also hopes to kick-start land acquisition process for the airport in the next four months, ahead of the issuance of notification for the 2026 Assembly elections.
Meanwhile, the Krishnagiri district administration is preparing the Land Development Plan (LDP) for the project.
The state government is keen on not wasting time and preparing documents to move the civil aviation ministry for site clearance for the project.
"Two levels of approval are needed from the Centre, with site clearance followed by in-principle approval. We will apply for site clearance in the next two weeks as approvals in such cases take longer time," a source told DH.
The development comes amid plans by the Karnataka government to build a second airport for Bengaluru and operationalise the old HAL airport in the city. Besides, the Andhra Pradesh government is also mulling an airport in Kuppam, not far away from Hosur and Bengaluru.
Another source said the Hosur airport is planned to be developed on land parcels in the quadrilateral of Hosur, Berigai, Bagalur and Shoolagiri in Krishnagiri district. "The chosen location is close to the Tamil Nadu section of the Bengaluru Satellite Town Ring Road (STRR) which will not just help people from Hosur but also from south Bengaluru to use the airport once it is operationalised," the source added.
The chosen location — Berigai-Bagalur — is sparsely populated and has much less habitation, unlike the other shortlisted site in Belagondapalli near the Taneja airport, which is a fertile region surrounded by habitation sites. An Obstacle Limitation Surfaces (OLS) study conducted in May-June 2025 in Berigai-Bagalur and Belagondapalli favoured the former for housing the airport due to fewer obstacles than the latter.
The Krishnagiri district administration has identified about 2,000 acres of land in over five revenue villages in Hosur and Shoolagiri taluks with local officials surveying the land parcels for the past two months as part of preparing the LDP.
"The work is in full swing, and we expect the Collector’s report in about two weeks. About three months is needed from then to issue the GO for land acquisition. Though the number of habitation sites is less than 10, we just hope that there aren’t many protests," the source added.
Besides site clearance, Tamil Nadu needs a No Objection Certificate (NOC) from the Bengaluru International Airport Limited (BIAL) due to the concessionaire agreement signed between the airport operator and the Union government that restricts new facilities within 150 km until 2033.
Since much of the airspace in Krishnagiri is controlled by Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) in Bengaluru, the state government has already written to the Defence Ministry seeking relaxation of airspace restrictions for commercial operations.
Since BIAL holds the key for the Hosur airport, the state government has been in touch with the firm for several years. Interestingly, Fairfax Financial Holdings, the majority stakeholder of BIAL, has shown interest in Hosur and Chennai airports, with the company’s Chairman and CEO, Prem Watsa, discussing the issue with Chief Minister M K Stalin in April.