Union Minister for Parliamentary Affairs, Coal and Mines Pralhad Joshi on Wednesday said that the director of the Hubballi Airport has been asked to send a proposal to the Union government for starting direct flight services to West Asian nations from Hubballi.
Speaking after launching flight services to Hyderabad from Hubballi at the Hubballi Airport on Wednesday, Mr. Joshi said that runway extension would be required for further upgradation of Hubballi Airport and international flight services would be possible after the completion of runway extension.
The Union Minister said that further development of Hubballi Airport with advanced facilities would be initiated soon.
On the launch of flight services to Hyderabad by Alliance Air, Mr. Joshi said that the pending demand for air connectivity to Hyderabad had been met now. The flight services, which would be available thrice in a week, would be extended to all days after considering patronage, he said.
Mentioning that the flight services to Hyderabad had materialised because of the special efforts of Union Minister for Civil Aviation Hardeep Singh Puri, Mr. Joshi said that he would thank the Minister for the gesture.
He also said that the demand for flight services between Hubballi and Mangaluru would materialise soon. Already, air connectivity to Mumbai, Ahmedabad, Kochi, Kannur, Goa from Hubballi had been established and more cities would be added to the air network from Hubballi after considering the COVID-19 situation, he said.
Chief Executive Officer of Air India’s regional subsidiary Alliance Air Harpreet A. De Singh said that Air India was doing the work of blending the hearts of India. “With Hubballi being an important city, following a request by Minister [Pralhad Joshi], air services to Hyderabad have been launched now. This will help improve Karnataka and Telengana relations,” she said. Ms. Harpreet Singh said that already, Alliance Air had extended air services from Gorakhpur to Lucknow, Bareilly to Delhi, Bilaspur, Jabalpur and other cities and in Southern India, services had been launched from Mysuru to Mangaluru, Calicut and Kalaburagi to Mumbai. “Under Make In India project, MoU has been signed with HAL for purchase of civil aircraft. Flight services to north-eastern States will be launched soon,” she said.
Deputy Commissioner of Dharwad Nitesh Patil, Director of Hubballi Airport Pramod Kumar Thakre, Airport Security Officer Jagadish Hanchinal and others were present.
Published - April 01, 2021 12:10 am IST
