The upgraded Hubballi Airport was inaugurated by Shri P. Ashok Gajapathi Raju, Hon’ble Union Minister for Civil Aviation in the august presence of Shri Ananth Kumar, Union Minister of Chemicals & Fertilizers and Parliamentary Affairs; Shri Jayant Sinha, Union Minister of State for Civil Aviation; Shri R.V. Deshpande, Minister for Large & Medium Industries and Infrastructure Development, Govt. of Karnataka; Shri Santosh S. Lad, Minister for Labour & Skill Development, Govt. of Karnataka; Shri Vinay R. Kulkarni, Minister for Mines & Geology and Dharwad District Incharge Minister, Government of Karnataka; Shri Pralhad Joshi, Member of Parliament (Lok Sabha); Shri Jagadish Shettar, Member of Legislative Assembly (Hubballi-Dharwad Central) & Leader of Opposition; Shri Aravind Chandrakant Bellad, Member of Legislative Assembly (Hubballi-Dharwad West) and Shri D.K. Chavan, Mayor, Hubballi-Dharwad Municipal Corporation.
The second largest city in Karnataka, Hubballi forms the agglomerate town area with the city of Dharwad making it the largest urban area ‘Hubballi-Dharwad’ next to Bengaluru. Hubballi is one of the fastest growing cities in Karnataka and comprises many small, medium and large scale industries which contribute to the growth of the economy of the state. The Karnataka Chamber of Commerce & Industry is established here at Hubballi to facilitate the growth of wide range of industries in Karnataka.
The Hubballi-Dharwad region is also famous for tourism due to its close proximity with Western Ghats, the Rock Garden, the Elephant Camp and the signature ‘Kasuti’ style of embroidery. With spurt in economic and trade opportunities, the city is growing to be one of the popular destinations for tourists as well as for entrepreneurs. Hubballi-Dharwad is selected for Solar City/Green City Master Plans and is being developed as a ‘Smart City’ under the Government of India’s ‘Smart City Mission’.
The New Terminal building of Hubballi Airport is a centrally air-conditioned building, with an area of 3,600 sqm 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, Fire Fighting & Fire Alarm System, HVAC, Flight Information Display System (FIDS), CCTV, Baggage scanners and Car parking etc.
While inaugurating the Upgraded Terminal Building, Shri P. Ashok Gajapathi Raju, Union Minister of Civil Aviation said, “the development of Airport in the country is a joint effort of both the central and state Govt. and all should come together to see that National Flag is flying high.” He informed the audience that Hubballi Airport has been included in the UDAN scheme in the second phase. “The response from the airlines is very good. Number of airports like Mumbai, Chennai, Pune, Hyderabad, Kolhapur, Sholapur, Cochin, Goa, Tirupati, Kannur and Belagavi can be connected in the near future,” he added.
Commenting on the Upgraded Hubballi Airport, Shri Jayant Sinha, Union Minister of State for Civil Aviation said, “Since Hubballi is tagged for UDAN, it is expected that this airport will be connected shortly with many other airports.”
The Upgraded Terminal Building has many green features like Standing seam Double Insulated Roofing system, provision of sky light system for energy savings, part LED lighting, Low heat gain glazing, energy efficient chillers, usage of fly ash bricks, sewage treatment plant, re-use of treated water for horticulture purposes, Variable Frequency Drive high capacity motors, all the green features aptly seconding the Government’s initiatives towards ‘Green India.’
The upgradation project of Hubballi Airport was undertaken under the able guidance of Shri. S. Raheja, Member (Planning), Airports Authority of India.
At present, Hubballi Airport is having one daily flight connecting Bengaluru with ATR 72 type of aircraft operated by Alliance Air. Hubballi Airport handled 25,928 passengers during the year 2016-17. On this occasion, the Air India flight A-319, sector Bangalore to Mumbai via Hubli (BLR-HBX-BOM) with a capacity of 160 passengers operating thrice a week was flagged off. The upgraded airport is now capable of handling Code-C (AB-320) type of aircraft.