Boost to Belagavi’s air connectivity

BELAGAVI: The Sambra airport will be shortly connected directly with several cities including the national capital thanks to different air service providers.
Recently, the airport was selected under the Udan scheme of the central government and many airlines are in the process of placing bids to operate flights from here.

MP Suresh Angadi told TOI that Indian Airlines is already running flights to Bengaluru and Mumbai from the city and several other airlines have finalized routes to Hyderabad, Vijayawada, Chennai, Shirdi, Pune, Goa and Tirupati from Belagavi.

Angadi said that he had received information from Usha Padhee, joint secretary of civil aviation ministry, that bidding for the above routes has been finalized by Indigo, Spice Jet and Star Airline. He added that Jet Airways and Air Asia are also interested in operating from Belagavi and the ministry was working on the new routes.

“Several airlines have evinced interest in providing air connectivity between Belagavi and many destinations after the airport was chosen in the Udan scheme. The have also considered Belagavi’s potential as it is already a hub for education, is popular for health tourism and industries,” Angadi said.

According to reliable sources, the civil aviation ministry is working on new routes like Surat, Jaipur, Kolkata, Mangaluru, Varanasi, Indore and Ahmedabad. Sources said negotiations are becoming a bit tough as Belagavi has two airports within 100 kms - Hubballi and Kolhapur.