ANANTAPUR: The state government has proposed to take over the Puttaparthi airport, which is under the control of the Sri Satyasai Central Trust. In the wake of poor development of the airport and lack of night landing facility, the authorities are unable to operate aircraft during late hours. Service at the airport is confined to VIP aircraft.
Government sources said that Infrastructure Corporation of AP managing director Ramesh Kumar Suman had written to the Satyasai Central Trust offering to spend Rs 73 crore to take over the airport, a few days ago. Sources at Incap said that a reply was awaited from the Trust.
“Private airlines have come forward to establish a cargo centre close to the airport,” sources said, and added that land acquisition process was on.
The airport was inaugurated on November 24, 1990, to ferry patients to the superspecialty hospital, The 1-km long airstrip was constructed by L&T ECC.
It was extended to enable jet aircraft to operate from the airport. Until 2008, the then Indian Airlines operated scheduled flights to Mumbai and Chennai from the airport. These flights ceased when the airline merged with Air India. At that time, the airline was operating flights to Bengaluru thrice a week.
On November 12, 2005, the Indian low-cost carrier Air Deccan commenced flights from the airport to Hyderabad and Chennai twice a day. Kingfisher Airlines continued this flights to Puttaparthi until 2008, when all scheduled flights to Puttaparthi officially ceased.
At present, only chartered aircraft of VIPs including political leaders are seen and the airport lies unused for the rest of the time. A Bengaluru-based airline company had come forward to establish an aviation academy and service centre and sought additional land adjacent to the airport. Farmers demanded a hefty compensation and the issue is pending with the state government.
Joint collector B. Lakshmikantham said a proposal regarding demands by farmers seeking additional compensation was sent to the government. The Centre has kept aside the proposal for a greenfield airport at Anantapur. The Puttaparthi airport can fill the gap but needs to be developed. People from Rayalaseema depend on the Bengaluru airport.
