Upgraded Hubballi Airport opening today

The stage is set for the official opening of the upgraded airport here, and Tuesday (December 12) will mark the beginning of a new era in terms of air connectivity infrastructure in the region, when Union Civil Aviation Minister P Ashok Gajapathi Raju will open the new terminal at Hubballi Airport, and flag off the Hubballi-Mumbai flight service.

The process for airport upgradation, in the form of acquiring the land required, began in 2006 itself, and after 11 years, the moment to get the biggest airport in the region formally thrown open for public service, and to get first 124-seater Airbus A319 aircraft service from the region to Mumbai has come now.

After the State Government handed over 600 acres of land free of cost, the Airports Authority of India (AAI) has upgraded the airport at a cost of Rs 142 crore.

The runway has been expanded from 1,674 metre to 2,600 metre, a new terminal building with a capacity to handle 300 passengers at a time has come up, and a new air traffic control (ATC) tower has been constructed, along with other upgradation works.

The upgraded airport with an ability to handle bigger aircrafts including cargo flights, is expected to attract more air traffic from here, boosting the economic development of the region.

At present, only Air India is operating a Bengaluru-Hubballi-Bengaluru 72-seater flight daily. Inauguration of the upgraded airport on Tuesday will also mark the launch of Air India's tri-weekly A319 aircraft service on Bengaluru-Hubballi-Mumbai route, and in the return direction. Air connectivity between Hubballi and Mumbai has been a long-pending and much talked about demand.

Civil Aviation Minister P Ashok Gajapathi Raju will inaugurate the upgraded airport on Tuesday (December 12) at 11:30 am, and later, he will flag off Hubballi-Mumbai flight service also.

Union Chemicals & Fertilisers Minister Ananth Kumar, Union Minister of State for Civil Aviation Jayanth Sinha, State Large & Medium Industries Minister R V Deshpande, and others will be the guests.