Karnataka likely to replicate Maharashtra model to manage, operate airports

SHIVAMOGGA: For the first time the state government is contemplating replicating the Maharashtra model for the maintenance and operation of airports which the government is constructing and will construct in the future.

Instead of handing over the airports it has constructed to the Airports Authority of India (AAI), the government is likely to manage such airports and earn revenue from them. If everything goes as expected, Shivamogga Airport, which is likely to be inaugurated in January, will be the first airport to be managed and operated by the state government.

MP B Y Raghavendra told The New Indian Express that the Maharashtra government has constituted an authority to manage and operate around six to seven airports it has constructed. “We are thinking of replicating the same model and Shivamogga airport could be the first such airport being directly managed by the state government. The state government has only invested 90% of the total construction cost. Hence, the government wants to utilise the revenue generated from the airports,” he said.

Raghavendra said that a team of officials from the state will visit Maharashtra soon to study how the Maharashtra government is managing and operating its airports. “The team will also visit such airports including the Shirdi Airport. After studying the model, the state government will take a final call on whether to hand over the airport to the AAI, or get it managed by the Infrastructure Department or privatise it” he said. 

The Maharashtra government constituted the Maharashtra Airport Development Company Limited (MADC), a special purpose vehicle, in 2002 to plan, construct, operate and maintain airports in the state. 

Shivamogga Airport is being constructed at an estimated cost of Rs 384 crores. It has a runway of 3,200 metres which is second longest in the state after the Kempegowda International Airport at Devanahalli near Bengaluru. Raghavendra has already requested the Ministry of Civil Aviation to consider under UDAN Scheme to operate flights from Shivamogga to Bengaluru, Mumbai, Chennai, Mangaluru, Tirupati, Hyderabad, Kochi, Delhi and Goa.