NWKRTC to run city buses to Hubballi airport: Joshi

Hubballi: Bus connectivity from various parts of the city to the Hubballi airport will soon be started, said Dharwad MP Pralhad Joshi. He was chairing a meeting of aerodrome advisory committee at a hotel here on Tuesday.
Joshi said NWKRTC will start the bus service shortly. As far as starting of Ola and Uber cabs, former chief minister Jagadish Shettar said cab aggregators are yet to obtain permission from the RTO. He asked airport authorities to allow cab services inside the airport once they get the required permission.

Joshi said SpiceJet will start a new flight to Pune soon. Joshi added that Star Airlines, which had announced flights to Pune, Hindon (Delhi) and Tirupati, will commence operations soon. “The airline has applied for permission for its foreign pilots. Once the permission is granted, it will commence the flights,” said Joshi.

The MP said the airport will soon have the facility of instrument landing system which helps landing of aircrafts in case of poor visibility of runway in extreme weather condition.

Joshi took airport director Ahilya S Kakodikar to task for not inviting a tender to start a canteen outside the terminal. “Many flights are landing after May. Three months ago, you had told me that you would invite a tender. Still you are talking about inviting a tender. The tender should be invited immediately,” he said.

Kakodikar said that State Bank of India and Corporation Bank have come forward to open ATMs inside and outside the terminal. The meeting also discussed the parking issue. Joshi asked officials to plan properly to avoid traffic jams outside the terminal.

When Shettar and Joshi suggested that auto rickshaws be allowed inside the airport, officials said that there is no provision to allow rickshaws. “A few days ago, some auto rickshaw drivers caused inconvenience to passengers,” the director said. Joshi asked the officials to try implementing prepaid autorickshaw service.