Karwar Airport is a proposed airport and will be built by the

Indian Navy The Indian Navy is the maritime branch of the Indian Armed Forces. The President of India is the Supreme Commander of the Indian Navy. The Chief of Naval Staff, a four-star admiral, commands the navy. As a blue-water navy, it operates si ...

at Alageri village near

Ankola Ankola is a Town Municipal Council and a taluka in Uttara Kannada district of the Indian state of Karnataka. The name of the place is derived from a forest shrub Ankola grown on the coastal hill side and worshiped by the Halakki Vokkaligas a ...

Karnataka Karnataka (; ISO: , , also known as Karunāḍu) is a state in the southwestern region of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, with the passage of the States Reorganisation Act. Originally known as Mysore State , it was renamed ''Karnat ...

. The naval air station is expected to start functioning in 2025. The Airports Authority of India (AAI) will operate a

civil enclave A joint-use airport is an aerodrome that is used for both military aviation and civil aviation. They typically contain facilities of both a civil airport and a military air base. By country United States The United States has several joint-use ...

at the naval air base which is part of the Navy's Rs 10,000 crore Phase 2 of

Project Seabird INS Kadamba or Naval Base Karwar or Project Seabird is an Indian Navy base located near Karwar in Karnataka. The first phase of construction of the base, code-named ''Project Seabird'', was completed in 2005 and the base was commissioned on 3 ...

Naval air station

The Naval Air Station Karwar is being built on 1,328 acres primarily to cater to the Navy's large, ship-based helicopter units and

Dornier 228 The Dornier 228 is a twin-turboprop STOL utility aircraft, designed and first manufactured by Dornier GmbH (later DASA Dornier, Fairchild-Dornier) from 1981 until 1998. Two hundred and forty-five were built in Oberpfaffenhofen, Germany. In 19 ...

aircraft that will be stationed at the base. The Indian Navy's Boeing P-8I, advanced maritime surveillance aircraft is also expected to be stationed at Ankola. The commissioning of a naval air station at

Karwar Karwar is a seaside city, ''taluka'', and administrative headquarters of Uttara Kannada district lying at the mouth of the Kali river on the Kanara coast of Karnataka state, India. Karwar is a popular tourist destination and with a city urba ...

will decongest INS Hansa at the nearby

Dabolim Airport Dabolim Airport is an international airport in Dabolim, Goa, India. It is operated by the Airports Authority of India as a civil enclave in an Indian Navy naval airbase named INS Hansa. The airport is located in Dabolim, 4 kilometers ...

which is a front line Air Station that is highly congested with both operational and training flying. The resulting restrictions on civil commercial air traffic has met with opposition from civilian quarters since Goa is a popular tourist destination in India In early 2007, there were reports of a concerted move by the Navy, the AAI, and the state of Karnataka to extend the runway planned at the naval base near

to 2,500 metres (8,200 ft) to accommodate

Airbus A320 The Airbus A320 family is a series of narrow-body airliners developed and produced by Airbus. The A320 was launched in March 1984, first flew on 22 February 1987, and was introduced in April 1988 by Air France. The first member of the famil ...

s and to acquire 75 extra hectares for this purpose. However, there have been no corresponding plans announced so far to relocate flight training from Dabolim to this airport or any other more convenient place.

Civilian Use

Navy had initially planned to construct a 2,000-metre long runway for the naval air station. The Karnataka State Government approached the Ministry of Defence (MoD) to use the air station for civil operations. The MoD approved of the proposal and asked the State government to facilitate the extension of the runway by another 1000 metres to a total of 3000 meters. The AAI had carried out an inspection of the site at the request of the Karnataka Government in 2006. It had given suggestions regarding orientation, location and extension of the proposed runway to 2,500 metres and also of its land requirements of an additional 75 hectares. Accordingly, in 2019, the district administration began acquiring 40 acres for extension of the runway and for the terminal building. The State Government has requested the Central Government to bear the cost of acquisition of this additional land, estimated to be Rs. 20 crores.

References

{{Coord, 14.64781, N, 74.32970, E, display=title Airports in Karnataka Proposed airports in Karnataka Karwar Buildings and structures in Uttara Kannada district Transport in Uttara Kannada district

Naval air station

Civilian Use

See also

References