Wednesday, March 26, 2008

Mangalore International Airport ready by Jan 2009?

Amidst uncertainity over opening of Bangalore International Airport at Devanahalli, on other end of Karnataka, Mangalore International Airport is making quite progress without much fanfare. If everything goes fine, then by January 2009 you would see a fully operational international airport terminal at Kenjar near Mangalore. Current Bajpe airport would be converted to a cargo terminal. So says the reports of Bangalore Mirror dated 19th March 2008. Bangalore Mirror, a tabloid from the Times of India group, has been dedicating a page everyday for the latest happenings in Mangalore and Mysore, with a column each for both the cities.

It may be noted here that air travel to Gulf countries from Mangalore began 2 years ago on October 3, 2006. Large base of people from coastal Karnataka and Malabar region in gulf countries has made these operations lucrative to flight operators too. People from this region otherwise had to go to Mumbai/Bombay to catch a flight to gulf. All these changed with the opening of Mangalore Airport to Gulf flight operations.
Mangalore Airport photoMangalore Airport has been cited as one of the prime reasons for the current development surge Mangalore is experiencing. With the international airport ready by start of next year this boom would only accelerate further. If only infrastructure projects could match the pace with which real estate projects are coming up, city would grow int one, without offering much hardships to the city dwellers. Otherwise, it would meet the similar fate as of Bangalore’s infrastructure crunch. City has already been listed as the second fastest growing among tier II cities in India by Knight Frank, a global property firm, after Kerala capital, Thiruvananthapuram; early indcations of the big things to come!

Back in Bangalore the counting game is on for the opening day of Devanahalli airport for international operations. I was wondering when our neighbour Kerala can boost of three international airports (Cochin, Trivendrum, Calicut) to its credit, why can’t IT state of India at least boost of one. Cochin International Airport is a fine case of public-private partnership. Lot to learn if one is keen to.

Regards,
Raveesh

1 comment:

  1. Thanks, if you can provide more information regarding privitisation of Mangalore Intl Airport will be more usefull. e.g.
    (a) Name of the Company going to take over airport.
    (b) Estimated date of opening of new intl airport.
    (c) Career/vacancies

    Thanking you,

    with regards

    Uday Kumar
    Sub Station Officer
    Fire & Emergency Services
    Mumbai International Airport

    ReplyDelete

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