Telangana Government Unveils Plans For Building Three New Airports And Reviving Three Existing Facilities

The Telangana government is actively pursuing the development of three new greenfield airports and the revival of three existing brownfield airports, roads and buildings, Minister Komatireddy Venkat Reddy said last week.

The three new airports are proposed to be established at Bhadradri Kothagudem, Jakranpally in Nizamabad district, and Mahabubnagar (Gudibanda village in Adakkal Mandal).

Similalry, the existing airports in Warangal Urban district (Mammnoor village), Basanthnagar in Peddapally district, and Adilabad district are being revived.

Speaking at the opening session of the Wings India 2024 civil aviation conference and exhibition, Reddy announced the commencement of the expansion plan revealing that in the first phase, work on the airports in Warangal and Adilabad have started.

Currently, the international airport at Shamshabad on the outskirts of Hyderabad is Telangana's primary civil aviation facility. Demand for airports at Adilabad and Nizamabad has arisen due to their long distance from the state capital.

In addition to the airport projects, the Telangana government has proposed a water aerodrome at Nagarjuna Sagar dam. A pre-feasibility report for this project has been completed by the Airports Authority of India (AAI), and the state is also exploring other waterbodies for potential water aerodromes.

It should be recalled the previous government headed by K Chandrasekhar Rao had also proposed to take up development of three greenfield airports at Jakaranpally, Palvancha (Bhadradri Kothagudem district) and Mahabubnagar district. Additionally, they had also decided to revive the airports at Mammnoor, Basanthnagar and Adilabad district.

Accordingly, the Airports Authority of India (AAI) had conducted a techno-economic feasibility study (TEFS), an obstacle limitation surfaces (OLS) survey, soil testing and other tests for all the six sites and submitted the report to the state government in June 2021.

As per the study, only three locations — Warangal, Adilabad and Jakranpally were found to be technically feasible.

The AAI subsequently requested the state government to develop and commission the feasible sites of the three airports for private operations of small aircraft, to avoid immediate requirement of land acquisition.

Further, the AAI had also advised Telangana government to carry out fresh OLS survey (for identification of actual physical obstacles as on date) before taking up of actual development of these three airports.

As per the original Master plan, these airports will be developed in phases with Phase-1 suitable for ATR-72 aircraft, and Phase-2 for AB-320 aircraft.

The construction work on these sites would begin once AAI and the Ministry of Civil Aviation give all necessary clearances. The actual timeline for completion of development of these airports shall depend on land acquisition, availability of mandatory clearances, financial closure by the state government of Telangana.