Tamil Nadu, BIAL, and Centre should sit and discuss Hosur airport: Civil Aviation Minister

Chennai: Union Civil Aviation Minister K Rammohan Naidu on Monday proposed that the Tamil Nadu government, Bangalore International Airport Limited (BIAL), and the Union Government sit across the table and take a decision on the issue of an exclusive airport for the industrial city of Hosur.

Naidu’s comments in Rajya Sabha came in response to the issue of congestion at Bengaluru airport and the need for an airport in Hosur in neighbouring Tamil Nadu raised by AIADMK MP M Thambidurai.

“The Tamil Nadu government has been actively pursuing to put up an airport in Hosur. While we are trying to assist, the challenge is the concessionaire agreement (that the Centre signed with BIAL that no airport should come up within a radius of 150 km till 2033), which is becoming tricky,” Naidu said.

“This is a matter which the BIAL, Tamil Nadu government, and the Government of India, everyone has to sit together, discuss, and come up with a solution. We will be proactively (pushing for it),” the minister added.

Thambidurai complained that BIAL was standing in the way of the Tamil Nadu government building a new airport in Hosur and the region needed another airport due to congestion at the Kempegowda International Airport in Bengaluru.

Naidu’s comments come at a time the Airports Authority of India (AAI) is studying in detail two locations shortlisted by Tamil Nadu to house the airport for Hosur after surveying five locations in and around Hosur. One of the shortlisted locations is within two km of the private airport owned by Taneja Aerospace and Aviation Limited (TAAL) in Belagondapalli in Hosur.

After Chief Minister M K Stalin’s announcement in June 2024 that Hosur will get an airport of its own in an area of 2,000 acres, Tamil Nadu government sources told DH that they will keep in mind the concessionaire agreement signed with BIAL.

The government is going ahead with shortlisting the sites to house the airport as it believes building a new facility will take at least six to seven years and by then, the concessionaire agreement might expire. The sources also said the TN government is in touch with BIAL for the past three years and might be willing to work with it.

Industry bodies in Hosur are also giving a thumbs-up to the government’s proposal as they believe freight traffic will also play an important role besides passenger traffic.

K Velmurugan, past president of Hosur Small and Tiny Industries Association (HOSTIA), had told DH last month that Belagondapalli where TAAL airport is located was the “ideal location” for constructing the airport as it is located in plains and is in proximity to several roads that connects Hosur with Bengaluru.

The new airport in Hosur is also likely to cater to people living in many areas of south Bengaluru due to their proximity to the Tamil Nadu town. The Tamil Nadu government’s move also comes close on the heels of Karnataka mulling a second airport for Bengaluru near Tumakuru.

Hosur is home to about 500 big industries and 3,000 MSMEs and now hosts Tata Electronics Private Limited, a key supplier of Cupertino-based Apple Inc and electric vehicle majors like Ola, Ather, Simple Energy, and TVS motor company.