On August 31, the first day of commercial operations at Shivamogga Airport, about six months after Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s inauguration, will take place.
Prior to the Karnataka elections in February 2023, Prime Minister Modi opened the airport in Shivamogga, the district where four-time CM BS Yediyurappa was born, for over Rs 450 crore.
An Indigo flight is set to depart from Bengaluru’s Kempegowda International Airport at 9.50am on August 31 and arrive at Shivamogga Airport at 11.05am, according to MB Patil, the minister of infrastructure development for Karnataka, who made the announcement on August 29.
Yeddyurappa, Madhu Bangarappa, the Karnataka minister for basic and secondary education, BY Raghavendra, the member of parliament for Shivamogga, and other officials would be on board this maiden aircraft.
The state government will manage Shivamogga Airport as its first airport. According to Patil, it is anticipated to have a substantial impact on the region’s economic, industrial, tourism, and educational development.
Patil predicted that the Malnad (the area surrounding Karnataka’s Western Ghats) and central Karnataka districts will rely heavily on Shivamogga Airport as a transportation center.
He claimed that the flight service had received a great reaction initially, with seats already being reserved for the following three weeks.
People living in the neighboring districts of Chikkamagaluru, Davanagere, Chitradurga, and Haveri would also profit from the service. After then, he said, the emphasis would be on providing direct flight services to connect places like Delhi, Hyderabad, Tirupati, Chennai, and Goa.
According to him, the UDAN scheme has already announced a tender to increase flying services out of Shivamogga.