Kalaburagi airport turns fastest growing in the state

Kalaburagi: While the air traffic at domestic airports of the nation has fallen by 65.1% compared to September-2019, the Kalaburagi Airport, which is celebrating its first anniversary of inauguration on November 22, has witnessed thrice the number of passengers this month when compared to December 2019, the first month of the operation.
According to the statistics released by Airport Authority of India (AAI) released on Friday evening, 5,828 passengers had travelled through Kalaburagi Airport by October 2020, while the figure stood at 1,643 December 2019.
Number of operated flights has also increased from 34 to 124 in the same period. As on October 30, a total of 37,016 passengers have travelled by 924 flights through the airport. The average number of passengers per flight is over 40, according to the data.
It may be recalled that the airport did not operate in April 2020 in the wake of the pandemic-induced lockdown.
Sunil Kulkarni, president, Kalyan Karnataka Grahakara Vedike, Kalaburagi noted that the Kalaburagi airport is one among the fast growing airports in India and the fastest growing airport among tier-2 cities of Karnataka.
“In less than a year, it has proved the potential of Kalaburagi. In spite of the pandemic, the airport is growing in terms of passengers,” he added.
Venkatesh Mudagal, a frequent traveller and an engineer with Gulbarga University, asserted that there is need of improving facilities like lounges, restaurant/cafeteria at the airport. “Kalaburagi has potential as it’s situated at a geographically strategic location. If we get evening flights from and to Bengaluru, it will be helpful for passengers of both Kalaburagi and Bengaluru to return home by evening.”
Having longest runway after Bengaluru International Airport, Kalaburagi Airport is also capable to operate international flights.Moreover, night landing should be allowed here to boost the flight services,” he stressed.