Strap: Daily flight between Bidar and Bengaluru planned from this month
GMR Hyderabad International Airport Ltd has signed a concession agreement to commission, operationalise and maintain the civilian enclave at the Bidar Airport in north Karnataka.
This comes under the Government’s Regional Connectivity – UDAN (Ude Desh Ka Aam Nagrik) Scheme.
GHIAL is expected to start airport operations in the first week of February, with one daily flight connecting Bidar with Bengaluru.
SGK Kishore, Executive Director – South, GMR Airports, and CEO - GHIAL, said, “The operationalisation of Bidar Airport is testimony to our commitment to support the Government’s flagship Regional Connectivity Scheme. We are very pleased to partner with the Government of Karnataka to support efforts for all-round development of Bidar and nearby regions and we are confident that the start of commercial operations at Bidar will provide a boost to the local economy through better connectivity for the people of Bidar and the large number of tourists who visit the area.”
Located in the north-eastern part of Karnataka, Bidar city is the headquarters of Bidar district and home to important religious shrines and historic monuments, including Guru Nanak Jhira Sahib, one of the holiest sites of the Sikh religion in this part of the country. Bidar is also renowned for Bidriware metal handicraft products, which have the coveted Geographical Indication (GI) tag.
Greenfield projects
GMR Group’s Airport portfolio has around 325 million passenger capacity in operation and under development, comprising India’s busiest Indira Gandhi International Airport in New Delhi, Hyderabad’s Rajiv Gandhi International Airport and Mactan Cebu International Airport in partnership with Megawide in the Philippines.
Greenfield projects under development include an airport at Mopa in Goa and an airport at Heraklion, Crete, Greece, in partnership with GEK Terna. The GMR-Megawide consortium has won the Clark International Airport’s EPC project, the second project in the Philippines. The Group recently received a Letter of Intent for development and operation of Nagpur Airport on PPP basis and development and operation of a greenfield airport at Bhogapuram in Andhra Pradesh. GMR Group is developing airport cities on the commercial land available around its airports in Delhi, Hyderabad and Goa.
GMR Hyderabad International Airport Ltd is a joint venture company promoted by the GMR Group (63 per cent) in partnership with Airports Authority of India (13 per cent), Government of Telangana (13 per cent) and Malaysia Airports Holdings Berhad (11 per cent).