Karnataka asked to start regional airline

HUBLI, Sept 28: Civil Aviation Minister Ananthkumar yesterday urged the Karnataka Government to start a regional airlines service in coll...

HUBLI, Sept 28: Civil Aviation Minister Ananthkumar yesterday urged the Karnataka Government to start a regional airlines service in collaboration with Indian Airlines (IA) with both holding a stake of 50 per cent each in the venture.

Talking to newsmen here, he said though the project would cost Rs 100 crore, an initial investment of Rs ten crore to Rs 15 crore could be made and the balance could be taken as loan from financial institutions. Aircraft could be taken on lease, he added.

Ananthkumar suggested that the state government could start the service immediately since the IA had vast experience. The Andhra Pradesh government had shown interest to take up a similar airline project, he pointed out.

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The Centre had released Rs one crore for construction of the Mangalore airport, which would be inaugurated on November 1.

Referring to the Hubli Airport, he said the State Government and the Airport Authority of India (AAI) had released Rs two crore each for providing night landing facility. Work on thefacility was expected to be completed before January next, he added.

He said it was proposed to operate flight services between Mumbai-Pune-Hubli-Bellary-Bangalore thrice a week.

Referring to the Devanahalli international airport in Bangalore, he said the Centre had accorded permission to the project in principle and it was now left to the state government to hold talks with Tata chairman Ratan Tata in this regard.

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He said foreign investment for infrastructure development at the airports was welcome, but foreign airlines would not be allowed to operate flights directly.

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