Ministers push airlines for air services to Kalaburagi and Bidar, Quotes Due by March 23

BENGALURU: In a key meeting held at Vidhana Soudha on Monday, ministers M B Patil, Dr Sharanaprakash R Patil, Priyank Kharge, Rahim Khan and KKRDB Chairman Dr Ajay Singh urged airlines to launch regular air services to Kalaburagi and Bidar.

Officials from IndiGo, Air India, Alliance Air, Star Air, and Akasa Air attended the meeting alongside senior state government officials R Vishal and Kushbu Choudary. The discussions focused on operational feasibility, leveraging the Airports Authority of India (AAI)-managed facilities, including the 742-acre site in Kalaburagi developed since 2019.

While one of the airline operator said they were committed to assessing operational feasibility for an airbase at Kalaburagi, which is equipped for all aircraft landings, including night stationing. It can be developed for daily services to other states and Bengaluru.

Another airline said they had retired all 50-seater aircraft and were planning for morning services to Bidar and evening services to Kalaburagi from Bengaluru.

A prominent airline noted that they were currently conducting commercial valuation for both destinations, while yet another operator said they were exploring flights from Kalaburgai to Hyderabad and return to Bengaluru.

The ministers directed airlines to submit firm quotes and flight timings for Bengaluru-Kalaburagi and Bengaluru-Bidar flights by March 23 after which a final decision will be taken in the next meeting.