Hubballi loses 3rd busiest airport tag to Belagavi in October

Direct flights to Delhi are likely to improve Hubballi airport's figures

The Hubballi airport, which was the third busiest airport (in terms of number of passengers) in Karnataka after Bengaluru and Mangaluru in August and September, lost its place to Belagavi airport in the month of October.

In October, a total of 24,359 passengers used the Hubballi airport, travelling in 468 aircraft, while the Belagavi airport recorded a footfall of 27,262 passengers and the use of 522 aircraft. With this, the Belagavi airport overtook Hubballi as the state's third busiest airport, despite Hubballi also witnessing an increase in passenger numbers and flights between September and October.

Air traffic data compiled by the Airports Authority of India (AAI) shows that while Hubballi was ahead of Belagavi in terms of flyer numbers in August and September, Belagavi saw more movement of aircraft through its airport. Additionally, Belagavi had also recorded more passengers than Hubballi in the month of July.

In September, Hubballi recorded 22,913 passengers and the movement of 451 aircraft, while Belagavi recorded 22,566 passengers and 472 aircraft, figures that were slightly lower than the flyer numbers seen by these airports in August.

While both the number of passengers and movement of aircraft have increased in Hubballi and Belagavi in October, the latter fared better than the former in both aspects.

Belagavi ahead

Even if the figures of the current financial year so far are considered, Belagavi airport is ahead of Hubballi. From April to October this year, Hubballi recorded 1.63 lakh passengers, and 3,156 aircraft movements. In the same period, the number of passengers who used Belagavi airport was 2.03 lakh, with 3,664 aircraft movements.

Hubballi airport is now connected with Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Chennai, Delhi, Mumbai, Hindon, Mangaluru, and Mysuru. Indigo and Star Air are operating their flights from here. There is also a demand for air connectivity between Hubballi and Ahmedabad, among other destinations.

Indigo's Hubballi-Delhi daily direct flight which started on November 14 is expected to improve the airport's figures both in terms of number of passengers and aircraft movements.