HYDERABAD: Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao, who is on a three-day official trip to Delhi called on Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri on Saturday and requested him to sanction domestic airports at Basanthnagar, Mamnoor, Adilabad, Jakranpally, Devarkadra and Bhadradri-Kothagudem.In a letter submitted to the Union Minister, Rao said that although the Airport Authority of India (AAI) had already taken up the obstacle limitation surface survey (OLS), soil testing and other investigations at the proposed domestic airports, the final reports were yet to be given.
“Expedite the process and do the required hand-holding for the State government in finalising the sites and getting all statutory clearances on a single-window basis so that the infrastructure work can be started for the non-scheduled operator permit (NSOP) operations with State funds,” Rao told Puri. Telangana has one only airport at Hyderabad. After the formation of the separate State, the Telangana government initiated action for creating additional domestic airports at six places.
The government also discussed with the AAI Chairman and a formal proposal was sent to the AAI in 2018 for the feasibility reports. At the six proposed sites, only no-frills airports for small aircrafts will be developed, which may be expanded in future for commercial operations based on the demand, Rao told the Civil Aviation Minister. Lands have been identified for the propose six new airports, except for Bhadradri-Kothagudem.
It may be recalled here that the Chief Minister wrote a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi on September 6, 2014, requesting the Centre to set up five new airports at Adilabad, Warangal, Kothagudem, Nizamabad, and Shamirpert. Some of these have old airstrips.
Proposed Airports
brown field
Basanthnagar, Peddpalli district
Mamnoor, Khilla Warangal mandal
Adilabad
green field
Jakranpally, Nizamabad district
Devarkadra, Mahabub nagar
Bhadradri-Kothagudem
What is no-frills airports?
It is proposed to initially develop no-frills airports at these locations catering to AIR-42, which are 40-50 seated aircrafts requiring a runway length of 1,400-1,500 metres Porta Cabin type terminal building. Thereafter, based on the demand, expansion will be taken up in a phased manner