Industry and trade bodies seek maintenance of flights from Belagavi

Members of various industrial and trade bodies have urged the Union government and the Airports Authority of India to ensure that the number of flights operating from the Belagavi airport were not reduced.

Some members of the Belagavi Cloth Merchants Association (BCMA) and the Traders Forum, Belagavi, met S. Thiyagrajan, airport director, Belagavi airport in Sambra, and sought AAI’s urgent intervention against proposed reduction of flights.

They said that sudden reduction in air connectivity would have on trade, commerce, industry, education, and investment in the region. They urged authorities to immediately restore services on the 13 UDAN routes sanctioned in 2019, stressing that Belagavi has consistently demonstrated strong passenger demand and commercial viability.

Subhash Patil, Senior Superintendent (Technical), briefed members on the progress and operational planning of the new terminal building, explaining the phased transition and allied facilities. Mr. Thiyagrajan assured the delegation of full cooperation and support, stating that efforts would be made to work with stakeholders to restore Belagavi airport’s connectivity and revive its earlier stature. Satish Tendulkar, president BCMA, Traders Forum, secretary Mukesh Khoda, members including Mukesh Sanghavi, Nitesh Jain, Raju Paliwala, and Lalchand Chapru were present.

With the announcement of UDAN 3.0 routes on January 25, 2019, Belagavi emerged as one of the most favoured cities in the scheme, with 13 routes sanctioned—the highest for any city at the time. Subsequently, Belagavi was directly connected to 15 cities, including 12 non-stop destinations and 3 one-stop connections.

Earlier, non stop flights connected Belagavi to Bengaluru, Delhi, Mumbai , Hyderabad , Ahmedabad, Surat, Pune, Nagpur, Jodhpur, Nashik, Indore, Tirupati, and indirect flights to Kalaburagi via Tirupati, Kishangarh via Surat and Nashik via Pune. They were operated by various agencies like IndiGo, SpiceJet, Alliance Air, TruJet, and Star Air. Out of the sanctioned routes, several were suspended due to various reasons.

However, concerns were raised when Star Air website did not show open bookings for Jaipur and Ahmedabad from January 15. Star Air had stopped operating flights two Mumbai from December 25.

Meanwhile, Star Air has clarified that it is accepting bookings for the Belagavi–Ahmedabad route from January 15. But there is no clarity on the Jaipur route.