TN wants Centre to get NOC from BIAL for Hosur airport

Tamil Nadu on Saturday asked the civil aviation ministry to ensure that the Bangalore International Airport Limited gives the mandatory No Objection Certificate (NOC) for flight operations from Hosur.

Tamil Nadu wants to launch commercial flights from an existing airfield in Hosur, 35 km from Bengaluru, under the UDAN scheme. But it feels the BIAL is sitting on the matter as the launching of flight operations from Hosur could affect it commercially.

Located in Belagondapalli village on Thally Road, the Hosur airport is just 30 minutes from Bengaluru and is maintained by Taneja Aerospace and Aviation Ltd. People in southern Bengaluru find it closer than the Kempegowda International Airport (KIA).

The NOC is necessary since it was agreed between the BIAL and the civil aviation ministry that no airport would function within a 150-km radius of the KIA for 25 years from the date of its opening.

In a letter to Civil Aviation Minister Suresh Prabhu, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami thanked him for launching flight operations from Salem.

"Similarly, Hosur is an important industrial hub in Krishnagiri district, which was selected under the UDAN scheme in the first phase, and flight operations are yet to start for want of the No Objection Certificate from the Bangalore International Airport Ltd," Palaniswami stated in the letter.

The Hosur airport will be an engine of growth for the industrial hub of Krishnagiri and the neighbouring districts, besides developing the Chennai–Bengaluru industrial corridor, the chief minister said.

"I, therefore, request you to kindly instruct the civil aviation authorities to make the Hosur airport operational immediately," he told Prabhu.