The Hindu Business Line : Aviation boom: Airports in small cities reaping benefits

NEVER mind which is aiding which, and don't count the chicken yet. But amidst the boom in aviation, falling air fares and the airlines' tempting seasonal offers, it looks like the small cities, too, can finally enjoy their place under the sky.

In terms of aviation, they probably never had it so good as now.

The planes are starting to touch down and money is also pouring into small airports across the country.

In Karnataka alone, the half-dozen minor airports are set to land investments of Rs 200-250 crore during 2005 and 2006, for either facelift or to build brand new connectivity.

Mangalore's Bajpe is going to be made international class by mid-2006.

In Mysore, a new operational runway will give a fresh lease of life to the idling airport, and that should somewhat unshackle it from Bangalore and open up new upcountry links for it.

Trading hub Hubli has also got night landing facilities, which could get it air-linked with Mumbai or tourist hotspot Goa.

At heritage centre Hampi, the State Government is converting Jindal Vijayanagar Steel Ltd's private airport operator's licence into a public one.

As a bonus, it recently clinched approvals for two greenfield projects, at Gulbarga and Hassan, according to the Principal Secretary, Infrastructure Development, Mr Vinay Kumar.

Then there is Belgaum waiting for a facelift; there is also Bijapur, and the wish list may not end there.

State-owned Alliance Air operates daily 119-seater Boeing 737 flights between Mangalore and Mumbai; and budget airline Air Deccan flies 48-seater ATR trips between Bangalore and Mangalore.

Indian Airlines puts its subsidiary Alliance Air's Mumbai-Mangalore load at 31,000 passengers a year, each way.

For now, the traffic numbers from these places do not say much.

Air Deccan, which has brought several small cities on to the air map in two years of operation, says it has 80 per cent load factor from Bangalore-Mangalore and up to 78 per cent on the Bangalore-Hubli-Belgaum loop, also by an ATR.

According to Air Deccan's spokesperson, Ms Vijaya Menon, operating flights between Bangalore and Mysore would not make much sense yet; but the airline is keenly waiting to try out the possibilities of linking Hampi with Mumbai and other cities.

As for Mysore, Mr Vinay Kumar said airlines could probably think of connecting it with Mumbai, Goa or Tirupati for those volumes.

Of the total spend on Karnataka's smaller airports, Rs 170 crore will come in from the Airports Authority of India - which has a larger agenda of upgrading 25 non-metro airports in several States. The State is putting in Rs 50 crore apart from providing land, water and other support systems.

Mangalore, the State's second busiest after Bangalore, generates good commercial traffic and there is a sizeable demand from there for direct flights to the Gulf and Europe, Mr Vinay Kumar said.

Its upgradation to international scale is being done at a cost of over Rs 100 crore - AAI is contributing Rs 90 crore. Work is on at the 175 acres of land acquired by the State, which has also contributed Rs 11.5 crore.

Mangalore will also be readied for wide-bodied aircraft like the Airbus 310 and 320.

The State and the AAI are to sign an MoU on September 5 to jointly develop the Mandakalli airport at Mysore. It would get a new, operational runway to take 50-seater ATRs. AAI is to invest Rs 35-40 crore to build the new runway on 175 acres of land allotted by the State.

Mr Vinay Kumar said this was expected to throw open Mysore as a destination for chartered tourism.

While Gulbarga, home district of the Chief Minister, Mr Dharam Singh, will add connectivity to northern Karnataka, developing Hassan airport should benefit the Jain heritage circuit and the SEZ coming up there.

Since their November 2004 agreement to share the cost for Gulbarga and Hassan, the two promoters have now doubled their contribution - to Rs 20 crore each per airport.

"We are waiting for communication on this," Mr Vinay Kumar said.

"We have asked for upgrading Belgaum and it has been accepted. Hubli is ready for night flights and waiting for the airlines to move in.

"The DGCA's inspection of Jindals' airstrip is over and in a few weeks, we should be hearing soon on starting civilian flights from Hampi, too," Mr Vinay Kumar said.

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