The Ministry of Civil Aviation, Aviation Secretary Pradeep Singh Kharola stated in the recently held summit that Bengaluru has the capacity to become the aviation capital of India.

News has it that Bidar will be the operational airport after Gulbarga, and is expected to begin operations on January 26. The maiden flight will be from Bidar to Bengaluru.

There are airports in all parts of Bengaluru now. Reportedly, the aviation industry has become a propeller of economic growth in Karnataka.

The aviation secretary further added that five more airports will become active in Karnataka in the coming two years. They are Vijayapura, Karwar, Shivamogga, Chikkamagaluru, and Bidar. Although about 40 airports have been made operational in the past five years, the new target is to double the number of functional helipads and airports in the coming two to five years.

Reportedly, the new airports are a part of the UDAN scheme brought forth by the Central Government. In total, 13 flights will be operating from the airport at Belagavi. A flight has been already operating from Belagavi to Tirupati, Mysuru, and Hyderabad every day. Flights operate to destinations including Pune, Hyderabad, Mumbai, Surat, Jodhpur, and others.

UDAN airports are already a hit. In 2019, Belagavi and Hubballi airports turned out to be two of the five busiest airports in India. Prayagraj, Kishangarh, and Jharsuguda are the other three UDAN airports. About 44 UDAN airports (both old and new) were made active in India by December 7, 2019.

Overall, Karnataka will have eight functional airports, namely Mysuru, Kalaburagi, Mangaluru, Bengaluru, Hubballi, Belagavi, Bellary and Bidar.