Hubli Airport is a domestic airport serving the twin cities of

Hubli Hubli, officially known as Hubballi, is a city in the Indian state of Karnataka. The twin cities Hubli–Dharwad form the second largest city in the state by area and population and the largest city in North Karnataka. Hubli is in Dharwad dist ...

and

Dharwad Dharwad (), also known as Dharwar, is a city located in the north western part of the Indian state of Karnataka. It is the headquarters of the Dharwad district of Karnataka and forms a contiguous urban area with the city of Hubballi. It was merge ...

in the state of

Karnataka Karnataka (; ISO 15919, ISO: , , also known as Karunāḍu) is a States and union territories of India, state in the southwestern region of India. It was Unification of Karnataka, formed on 1 November 1956, with the passage of the States Reor ...

, India. It is situated on Gokul Road, 8 kilometres from Hubli and from Dharwad. It is connected with 10 destinations throughout the country. Hubli Airport has been made self-reliant in terms of electricity generation, with the commissioning of an 8 megawatt (MW) ground-mounted grid-connected photovoltaic solar plant in April 2021.

History

The need for an Airport at Hubli was felt way back in 1954 when the region was under the Mumbai (then Bombay) presidency. Due to

States Reorganisation Act The States Reorganisation act, 1956 was a major reform of the boundaries of India's states and territories, organising them along linguistic lines. Although additional changes to India's state boundaries have been made since 1956, the States ...

, Hubli shifted from being a part of Bombay presidency to the newly formed

state. Consequently land acquisition was delayed and done only by 1974. The construction and development of the airport was carried out by the Public Works Department (PWD) of Karnataka. Airport Authority of India took over the airport from Karnataka PWD during 1996 and flight operations resumed in the 2003 by Air Deccan. Kingfisher Airlines soon joined followed and operated flights to Bangalore and Mumbai.

Spicejet SpiceJet is an Indian budget airline headquartered in Gurgaon, Haryana. It is the second largest airline in the country by number of domestic passengers carried, with a market share of 13.6% as of March 2019. The airline operates 630 daily fl ...

operated from the airport from 2014 to 2019 during the time which it had to suspend operations twice respectively due to Runway repairs and aircraft overrun before permanently ending flights in 2019.

IndiGo Indigo is a deep color close to the color wheel blue (a primary color in the RGB color space), as well as to some variants of ultramarine, based on the ancient dye of the same name. The word "indigo" comes from the Latin word ''indicum'', ...

started operating flights to the airport from July 2018 and is the biggest airline operating out of the airport.

Expansion

The

Government of Karnataka The Government of Karnataka, abbreviated as, GoK, or simply Karnataka Government, is a democratically-elected state body with the governor as the ceremonial head to govern the Southwest Indian state of Karnataka. The governor who is appoint ...

signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the

Airports Authority of India The Airports Authority of India, or AAI, is a public sector enterprise under the ownership of the Ministry of Civil Aviation, Government of India. It is responsible for creating, upgrading, maintaining, and managing civil aviation infrastruct ...

(AAI) in January 2013 to develop the airport. Accordingly, of land were acquired by the State Government and handed over to the AAI. The area of the airfield was increased to and the runway was extended to . A new taxiway, roofing, car parking, fire station and a new terminal building were also part of the upgradation project that would enable the operation of larger aircraft like the

Boeing 737 The Boeing 737 is a narrow-body aircraft produced by Boeing at its Renton Factory in Washington. Developed to supplement the Boeing 727 on short and thin routes, the twinjet retains the 707 fuselage width and six abreast seating with two u ...

and the

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 fam ...

. AAI constructed a new DVOR building and NDB building in 2016 and commenced the work on extension, strengthening and widening of the runway, taxiways and the isolation bay. A new ATC tower, technical block, fire station, a new apron for parking three aircraft, a 12.8 km. security wall with 17 security watch towers and a sewage treatment plant were constructed. On 12 December 2017 Union Civil Aviation Minister P. Ashok Gajapathi Raju inaugurated the upgraded airport terminal and other ancillary facilities. Minister of State for Civil Aviation Jayant Sinha and senior Airports Authority of India officials were also present on the occasion.

Facilities

Runway

Hubli Airport has one

runway According to the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), a runway is a "defined rectangular area on a land aerodrome prepared for the landing and takeoff of aircraft". Runways may be a man-made surface (often asphalt, concrete ...

in use. * Runway 08/26: , CAT I ILS equipped and in future will be equipped with RNP.

Terminals

The old terminal could handle only 3 ATR-72 sized aircraft. The apron could handle only three Code A/B sized aircraft. The old terminal was closed down and flight operations shifted to the new terminal after its inauguration. The new terminal covers an area of 3600 square meters and is centrally air-conditioned. It can handle 300 passengers at a time during peak hours, i.e., 150 arrivals & 150 departures. The airport has passenger-friendly amenities like public address system, check-in counters, fire alarm, HVAC (heating ventilation and air conditioning), elevator, firefighting, CCTV, baggage scanners and car parking. It is also eco-friendly as the terminal has a skylight system for energy savings and a standing seam double insulated roofing system. The apron can now handle three A319/A320/B737 or 5 ATR-72 sized aircraft at a time.

Cargo terminal

The cargo terminal is located east of the passenger terminal. It covers 65 square metres (700 sq ft). The Old Terminal Building was converted into Domestic Cargo Complex and started operations in March 2021. On completion it became north Karnataka’s first dedicated domestic air cargo terminal.

Airlines and destinations

Statistics

Other facilities

Solar power plant

A 8 megawatt (MW) ground-mounted grid-connected photovoltaic solar plant has been built by AAI at the airport. Hubli airport has been made self-reliant in terms of electricity generation with the commissioning of the plant in April 2021. airport. Solar power generated here is being supplied to Karnataka Power Transmission Corporation's (KPTC) grid and then on to other airports including

Gulbarga Kalaburagi, formerly known as Gulbarga, is a city in the Indian state of Karnataka. It is the administrative headquarters of the Kalaburagi district and is the largest city in the region of North Karnataka (Kalyana-Karnataka). Kalaburagi is ...

Mysore Mysore (), officially Mysuru (), is a city in the southern part of the state of Karnataka, India. Mysore city is geographically located between 12° 18′ 26″ north latitude and 76° 38′ 59″ east longitude. It is located at an altitude o ...

, and Bangalore's

HAL Airport HAL Airport is an airport that serves Bangalore, the capital of the Indian state of Karnataka. Located about 12 km east of the city centre, it has one runway and operates 24/7. Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL), a state-owned defence company ...

. The project is located in about 38 acres of land on south of the runway. Over 400 solar panels have been installed in 24 acres of the land whereas the remaining portion has been used to set up transformers, rooms, and for other purposes. The solar plant will generate about 140 lakh units annually.

Airport hotel

Fortune Park Airport Road Hubballi owned by

ITC Hotels ITC Hotels is an Indian hotel chain, based out of Gurgaon. With over 100 hotels, it is India's fifth largest hotel chain. It is a part of the ITC Limited group of companies. It has a franchise agreement to operate most of its hotels as part of ...

is strategically located opposite to Hubli airport. The hotel also encompasses 2 restaurants.

Connectivity

Road

The airport is connected to the city by Gokul Road. The

National Highway 48 The following highways are numbered 48: Australia * Illawarra Highway Canada * Ontario Highway 48 * Saskatchewan Highway 48 Czech Republic * D48 motorway (Czech Republic) part of European route E462 * I/48; Czech: Silnice I/48 Hungary * M ...

passes right next to the airport. The

NWKRTC The North Western Karnataka Road Transport Corporation - (NWKRTC), is a state-owned public road transport corporation in the Indian state of Karnataka. It is wholly owned by the Government of Karnataka. It serves routes to towns and cities in ...

operates air conditioned bus services from Hubli Railway Station to the airport and a mini-bus service between Hubli Central Bus Terminus (C.B.T.) and the airport. The AC buses make ten trips a day and mini-buses 24 trips a day.

Rail

The nearest railway station is Unkal railway station which is located 7.5 Km from the airport whereas the nearest major railway

junction Junction may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Junction'' (film), a 2012 American film * Jjunction, a 2002 Indian film * Junction (album), a 1976 album by Andrew Cyrille * Junction (EP), by Basement Jaxx, 2002 * Junction (manga), or ''Hot ...

Hubli Junction railway station Shree Siddharoodha Swamiji – Hubballi Junction commonly known as SSS Hubballi Junction railway station or Hubli Junction railway station (Station code: UBL), is a railway junction station under Hubli railway division of South Western Railway ...

, which is located 8 Km from the airport.

Accidents and incidents

*On 9 March 2015, a Spicejet

Bombardier Dash 8 The De Havilland Canada DHC-8, commonly known as the Dash 8, is a series of turboprop-powered regional airliners, introduced by de Havilland Canada (DHC) in 1984. DHC was later bought by Boeing in 1988, then by Bombardier in 1992; then by ...

, operating flight SG-1085 from

Bangalore Bangalore (), officially Bengaluru (), is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Karnataka. It has a population of more than and a metropolitan population of around , making it the third most populous city and fifth most ...

with 74 passengers and 4 crew, landed on Hubli's runway in heavy rain, veered off the runway and came to a halt on soft ground with the left main gear collapsed. There were no injuries but the aircraft received substantial damage to the left hand main landing gear, propeller and engine.

References

External links

Hubli Airport
at the

website {{Airports in India Airports in Karnataka Transport in Hubli-Dharwad Buildings and structures in Hubli-Dharwad Airports established in 1954 1954 establishments in Mysore State