Industry recommends International Airport at Hubballi

Bright days are ahead for Hubballi Airport! The industry has recommended the upgradation of the Hubballi Airport as an International Airport to assist the growth of Hubballi Dharwad Belagavi cluster.

One of the key takeaways from the recently concluded ‘Techceleration‘ event at Hubballi was to upgrade the existing airport at Hubballi to an International Airport.

Karnataka Digital Economy Mission (KDEM) had organized Techceleration, a 2 days tech event in Hubballi as part of the Beyond Bengaluru initiative by the Government of Karnataka.

Not only that but if we try to connect the dots, many other factors hint at the possible chances of upgrading Hubballi Airport to an International Airport.

Karnataka State Hajj committee has plans to construct a Hajj house near Hubballi Airport, which will make Hubballi an embarkation point for Hajj flights from the North Karnataka region.

A Hajj Embarkation point is the arrival/departure point for direct Hajj flights from a particular region. That would create the necessary infrastructure at Hubballi to handle international flights.

This year, 433 persons took the Hajj pilgrimage to Saudi Arabia from Hubballi region (comprising of Dharwad, Belagavi, Gadag, Haveri, and Uttara Kannada districts).

Recently, during the inauguration of Hubballi Delhi flight by IndiGo, Union minister of Civil Aviation Jyotiraditya Scindia revealed the expansion plans of Hubballi Airport.

He said that ‘The runway at Hubballi Airport will be extended to 3,200m (10,500ft). The current runway is 2,600m long (8,530ft) with all advanced landing aids like ILS”.

Also, Hubballi Airport is the only airport in North Karnataka to have a dedicated Cargo terminal. It facilitates the export of Cargo shipments to various destinations.

Hubballi Delhi flight by IndiGo is getting excellent response from the North Karnataka region. Sachin Shetty, Station Manager of IndiGo at Hubballi Airport expressed happiness over how the sector is performing.

“The flight gets around 85-90% load on all days, and sometimes the flight gets fully booked. On few days, we are even getting calls on over bookings”, he added.

To enhance the connectivity, Passengers from Hubballi are requesting resumption of Ahmedabad, Kochi, and Goa sectors and adding a few other potential routes like Pune, Jaipur, and Jodhpur.