Hubli airport director K.M. Basavaraju has said that about 90 per cent of the work on fixing of the boundary of the Hubli airport had been completed. The airport is being expanded to make it an all-weather airport.
Mr. Basavaraju told presspersons here on Monday that the Government had acquired and handed over 598 acres of land for the airport expansion.
According to Mr. Basavaraju, 615 acres of land was required for expansion of the airport. “As some 10 acres of land is under dispute, the district administration will resolve it and then hand it over to the AAI.”
The expansion of Hubli airport would be taken up in three phases. In the first phase, boundary wall measuring 13 km would be constructed.
“An initial estimate of Rs. 30 crore has been made for the work to be taken up in the first phase. Two other works that will be taken up will be extension of the runway and construction of the terminal building,” he said.
At present the runway is 4,500 ft. long and it would be extended to 7,500 ft.
Mr. Basavaraju said that if all goes well, 50 per cent of the boundary wall would be constructed by December-end.
New players
He said that two more private flight operators had evinced interest in operating small aircraft to different centres in south India from Hubli.
Mr. Basavaraju said that Spice Jet had evinced interest in operating flights from Hubli and was waiting for the arrival of the new 70-seater aircraft to begin operation. “Once the aircraft arrives, Spice Jet will be starting its services from Hubli,” he said.
