Mandakalli airport to be up and running by Dusshera
27 Jun 2008
Mysore: The Mandakalli Airport, presently under up-gradation of infrastructural facilities, will be ready for use by private aircraft by this Dusshera, that is 30 September, according to Lok Sabha member CH Vijayashankar.
Vijayashankar said that commercial flights would commence around February 2009, while speaking to the media on the sidelines of a meeting to review the progress in the works relating to upgradation of Mandakalli Airport, in the office of the Deputy Commissioner at Mysore.
Land measuring 162.32 acres across five villages and in the vicinity of Chamundi Hill has been identified for shifting the stretch of the Mysore-Ooty National Highway 212 to a distance of 2.5 kilometres. Presently, it passes alongside the airport. The government approval for the land acquisition has been received, said Vijayashankar, which has also approved the construction of a 60 metre wide four-lane road. Land acquisition has started after measuring the exact width of the road, he said.
The MP said that work on the first phase of the airport upgradation is almost complete, which includes the runway, taxiway and the peripheral road. However, the Airports Authority of India (AAI) expanded the construction mandate for the terminal building, by asking for additional three floors on the terminal building in keeping with the second phase work, which has pushed the completion date for the terminal building from December to February.
