Belagavi Airport on Upward growth trajectory

By Satish Kumar

Belagavi made its mark on the air map of India in the year 1942, and ever since then many airlines have opted this Airport and served this region, besides there are regular aircraft from Air force and some private jest too been flying in and out here.

In the recent article published in two of the newspapers namely DH and TOI from nearby city of Hubballi Dharwad, commented with headlines “Hubli’s loss is Belagavi’s gain” the article was mainly to show the growing trends of Belagavi with 400% and diminishing passenger at Hubablli to 26% compared to last year, but no one knows why such comment, be it being sarcastic or being envious.

I need to recall the short-lived memory of people in this region, when Belagavi Airport was being served well in recent past with five aircraft a day to Mumbai, Bengaluru, Hyderabad and Chennai, all of sudden the UDAN 2 came in effect all the five flights are diverted to Hubli, well netizens and politicians of Hubli Dharwad say it was ought to since the service from Hubli were shifted to Belagavi due to an accident occurred at Hubli and restored, well no one would justify otherwise, why an Airport being well served with flights turns to zero operation on one fine day. Then the political lobby worked and peaceful people of Belagavi or the local print media never said, “our loss is your gain”.

A delegation from few intellectual people of Belagavi knocked the doors of power corridors in Delhi and Belagavi got included in UDAN. 3, it has evidenced to be a big game-changer now, Belagavi Airport has gained massive momentum ever since.

From five to zero, Belagavi is back with bang and now leading in terms of more routes and more aircraft in the region with Trujet going to start its flights from mid of January, and additional Star Air flight to Indore, the Belagavi airport trending up to the upward growth trajectory, with 4 flights to Bengaluru, 3 to Hyderabad, 2 to Mumbai and 1 each to Pune, Indore, Kolhapur, Tirupati, Mysore, and Ahmedabad, in all 30 operations a day.

Today we are zero to 30 operations a day is sure winning streak for people and its well-wishers of Belagavi, so can we be also called more connected or say Well connected,

In my earlier article, I have said “the skies of Belagavi are going to be busier and many airlines would crisscross soon”, it is happening, Belagavi will not only be the most connected destination in North Karnataka but also busiest one, and besides it has now second-highest load to Bengaluru after Mangluru in the state, thanking all the people of Belagavi and people who have contributed for cause, and ending on a positive note to see some international routes to start from here in near future.