Mangalore airport gets international status

Mangalore airport gets international status

Mangalore Today News Network

Mangalore, Oct. 4, 2012: P. Chidambaram, union finance minister, announced on Oct 4, Thursday after a meeting of the cabinet committee on economic affairs that the international tag has been attached to Mangalore Airport.

The status of international airport has also been granted to the airports of Trichy, Lucknow, Coimbatore, and Varanasi after the proposal was brought before the union cabinet for its approval.

 

The cabinet committee on economic affairs approved the proposal to upgrade five airports, which have existing infrastructure such as immigration facilities, huge terminals, and customs facilities to operate international flights. Speaking after the meeting, P. Chidambaram said that the airports have existing infrastructure to operate international flights and some of them even operate international flights, owing to which the committee expects the airports to attract more international traffic.

International airports can handle international flights that require complex immigration and customs facilities, including topnotch terminal features such as adequate runway length, aerobridges, and other facilities capable of dealing with jets.

Granting the status of international airport to Mangalore Airport is expected to boost tourism and development in the city. Udupi Chikmagalur MP Jayaprakash Hegde and Dr. M. Veerappa Moily, union minister for corporate affairs, have played an active role in this development as they had relentlessly pursued the issue.

In order to convert a domestic airport into an international airport, more standardized immigration facilities need to be provided. International airports can handle foreign airlines and offer more facilities to passengers.

Mangalore Airport Director M. R. Vasudeva, who will be retiring at the end of this month, said that he considers it to be a parting gift given to him. Stating that they had been trying hard to obtain the international tag ever since international facilities were made available in May 2006, he said that he is happy that their efforts have paid off.