Bengaluru second airport: Karnataka to hold meeting for potential sites, says Minister

Bengaluru second airport: Karnataka's Infrastructure Development Minister MB Patil on Sunday, July 7, announced that the state government will soon hold a meeting to decide the location for the upcoming second airport for Bengaluru, according to several media reports.

Patil highlighted two aspects before making the final decision, the passenger load factor and the connectivity to the current Kempegowda International Airport (KIA) which should be considered by the government.

The minister said that if the priority is to solve the passenger load issue, then areas such as Sarjapura and Kanakapura Road are "strong contenders". If connectivity to the current airport becomes a priority then places like Tumakurur and Dobbaspet will be “in the lead,” he said.

“These considerations will be discussed in the next departmental meeting and further reviewed with the CM,” said Patil. “The matter will also be brought up in the cabinet meeting,” he said.

There is an exclusivity clause with Bengaluru International Airport Limited (BAIL) which restricts the building of another airport infrastructure within a 150 km radius, ending in 2032, said the minister. This is expected to allow the development of a new airport by 2033.

"Considering the time required for land acquisition and compensation for landowners, the government has initiated the planning process," said the minister.

"In Mumbai, the distance between the two airports is 36 Km," said Patil. Major cities like New York and London have multiple airports nearby, he said.

MK Stalin-led government's decision in Tamil Nadu to build an airport in Hosur needs to be examined, whether the exclusivity clause of BAIL applies to this situation or not, said the minister.

Bengaluru's Kempegowda International Airport is one of the busiest airports in the South of India. The airport handled nearly 31.9 million passengers in the financial year 2022-23, behind Mumbai airport's 44 million passengers and Delhi's 67.3 million passengers, according to Airport Authority of India data.