Govt. looking for alternative site b/w Udupi and M’luru to develop new airport

Bengaluru: The state government is planning to conduct a feasibility study for an alternative site between Udupi and Mangaluru for the development of a new airport, said Large and Medium Scale Industries Minister R V Deshpande.

He was responding to a question raised by Ganesh Karnik of BJP in the Legislative Council on May 9.The decision to look for an alternative site comes in the wake of difficulties faced by the government in acquiring land for the extension of the existing runway at the Mangaluru airport.

He also informed that the government is also examining the possibility of extension of runway to an extent of 33 acres of land for the critical mandatory requirement of safe landing of aircraft currently and in the near future at the existing airport.

Members from BJP and Congress voiced their concern that the passenger traffic at the airport will see a decline if the government fails to speed up the expansion work especially with neighbouring state Kerala, working aggressively to build international airports at Kannur and other places close to Mangaluru. Hence, there is a need to develop Mangaluru International Airport, they added, while demanding for runway extension.

Recently, a senior AAI authority, who was in Bengaluru, met the Chief Secretary of Karnataka and offered four different options for upgradation of existing Mangaluru airport.