Mysuru Lok Sabha MP Pratap Simha held a meeting with officials of Karnataka Industrial Areas Development Board (KIADB) to review the progress of land acquisition for expansion of Mysuru airport.
During the meeting held at the Jaladarshini Guest House in the city today, Mr. Simha took stock of the situation while discussing the problems faced by the KIADB to acquire land for the project.
Mysuru Airport Director Manjunath said the State government will have to acquire through KIADB another 240 acres needed for expansion of the airport and hand over the acquired land to Airport Authority of India (AAI) to take up the work.
The expansion of the airport envisages extension of the runway from the existing length of 1,740 metres and breadth of 30 metres to a length of 2,750 metres and breadth of 45 metres to facilitate operation of larger aircraft such as Boeing and Airbus.
Presently, only ATR aircraft with a seating capacity of 70 passengers is operated from Mysuru airport. Once, the larger bodied aircraft begin operating, Mysuru can be air-linked to Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkata, and other cities.
The extension of the runway also entails construction of an underpass for the Mysuru-Nanjangud highway. The work on the expansion of the airport can begin only after the State government acquires the requisite land and hands it over to the AAI, officials said.
