Union Civil Aviation Minister P. Ashok Gajapathi Raju recently inaugurated an upgraded airport terminal at Hubballi in North Karnataka.
Minister of State for Civil Aviation Jayant Sinha and senior Airports Authority of India officials were also present on the occasion.
A new flight from Bengaluru to Mumbai via Hubbali was also flagged off. This flight will operate thrice a week.
Mr. Gajapati Raju appealed to the Karnataka Governments to jointly work with the Centre to realise the dream of providing robust aviation in states.
He said, "I am sure that aviation has a bright future and If we all work together and keep taxation in limit because those states which have brought down the taxation within reasonable parameters have seen aviation activity boost."
Sinha said, "The Honorable Prime Minister of India has a dream of seeing everyone fly and connect, and we are doing our best to fulfill this dream."
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Hubballi Airport is a centrally air-conditioned building and with an area of 3,600 square metres, it has a capacity to handle 300 peak hour passengers at a time.
It has all essential passenger friendly amenities and conveniences like check-in counters, baggage conveyors, elevator, public address system, firefighting and fire alarm system, HVAC, flight information display system (FIDS), CCTV, baggage scanners and car parking etc.
In view of the government's initiative of Green India, the new terminal has green features like a standing seam double insulated roofing system, provision of sky light system for energy savings and many others.
Sudhir Raheja, Member (Planning), Airports Authority of India, said, "Primarily it's a big state of North Karnataka and we have initially started with a small terminal building that can handle 300 passengers at a time, 150 arrivals and 150 departures. But, considering the response that Hubli got in the second round of bidding in RCS-UDAN Scheme, it will get connected to Chennai, Hyderabad, Goa, Pune, Sholapur, Kolhapur, Kannur, Tirupathi and Delhi."
"So, we hope to expand the building, considering the response that Hubli has received in the second round of bidding in the RCS. This area right now is of 3600 square meter, perhaps we may have to add it further and go upto 10,000 square meter in the long run, because I am sure this airport will develop very fast, we will get a lot of connectivity from Hubli," he added.
India has taken giant strides in domestic civil aviation with growth rate of 21.5 per cent per annum for last two years and is only behind US and China in the race.
Regional connectivity Scheme- UDAN has added a staggering number of 30 airports in just one year.