Operationalisating the Airport in Bidar...

Starting the Civil aviation operations from Bidar has been a major demand from many parts of the district for some time now. The demand picked momentum about five years ago when the Govt of Karnataka proposed to start a green field airport and the process of acquiring land was initiated. However, at a later point of time, the administration came out with another proposal that would save much of the cost. The idea was to utilise the existing runway and ATC facility with the air force and provide necessary infrastructure to start civilian flight operations from Bidar. Accordingly, a proposal was submitted to the Ministry of Defence for clearance to use the air force facilities. This was accepted with certain conditions by the Ministry of Defence. Subsequent to the clearance by the Ministry of Defence, the district administration approached the state government for creating necessary infrastructure, which was readily accepted. Thus approval was given to construct the terminal building for the Bidar airport. This building was constructed after obtaining the views form the experts in the field. Though the terminal has been completed in time, the aviation operations could not be commenced due certain reasons related to the Operations of the Hyderabad airport. Thus, the civil aviation remained an ides that could not be materialised. However, still the idea was there in the minds of the people and it was being pursued at different levels of government by the political executive and the officers. The move got a good push when a meeting was held regarding this subject under the chair of the Secretary, Civil Aviation, Govt of India in the month of September. The meeting had decided to have a spot inspection jointly by all the stakeholders. Accordingly, a joint spot inspection was carried out by the representatives of the State Government, Civil Aviation, Ministry of Defence, GMR Hyderabad Airport and the district administration on 19 November. It was clear that the facilities existing would be sufficient for commencing the operations. However, clarifications need to be made regarding the commercial viability of the operations. The facts about Bidar, especially its importance due the Religious reasons and the historic reasons were presented by the district administration to the team. We estimate that there is a good demand for operationalizing the Bidar airport. The observations gathered during the spot visit and the local enquiry would be considered by the GMR before they give their opinion about the issue. Subsequently a meeting will be held to take a final call. Thus, it is one step ahead for the commencement of the flights from Bidar to certain locations.