It's official: Mangalore Airport is now 'INTERNATIONAL'

[email protected] (CD Network, Photos by Ahmed Anwar)
October 4, 2012
Mangalore, October 4: The long wait for the international status for Mangalore Airport has finally come to an end with the Union Cabinet officially declaring five domestic airports in the country as 'International Airports on Thursday.atc_tower

After the crucial cabinet meeting Finance Minister P Chidambaram told media persons in New Delhi that Cabinet approved the declaration of five international airports: Mangalore, Lucknow, Varanasi, Tiruchirapalli and Coimbatore.

The conversion of a domestic airport into an international one primarily entails creation of immigration facilities and deploying manpower to carry out these tasks.


Overjoyed by the international status, Mangalore Airport director MR Vasudeva, who will be retiring this month end, said that it had been a dream to see the Airport as International Aairport by the time he retires. “I'm happy that it's finally happened.''

He said that all the facilities required for declaring the Airport as International one like the terminal building, aerobridges, runway length for larger aircraft like Airbus 310 are available at the Airport. In many smaller countries most airports are international airports, so the concept of an "international airport'' sometimes has little meaning. “We have all world-class standards as required by ICAO/IATA”, he said.


Mangalore Airport was a customs aerodrome till now and Air India Express was operating flights to international destinations in the Middle East. Now foreign aircraft can operate since it is an international airport. The passenger will benefit with competitive fares and more destinations, probably starting with direct flights to South East Asia or Europe on a hub-and-spoke arrangement via Dubai.

Of the 9.29 lakh passengers handled by Mangalore Airport for the year ending June 2012, 2.5 lakh were international passengers.

The 61-year old Airport has seen tremendous growth from its first flight, a single cargo-cum-passenger Dakota plane in 1951 to modern Boeings and Airbuses. The Mangalore Airport was the first airport in the state to have two runways and one of which was fully concrete.

Prime Minister Jawaharlal Lal Nehru had arrived by the maiden flight to Bajpe in 1951 at the instance of the architect of the modern Dakshina Kannada, Ullal Srinivas Mallya.

The first runway is 5,330 feet and the transformation started when the second runway of 8,045 feet was commissioned in 2006. This also saw the landing of the first international aircraft from Dubai and the Airbus from private players and also by Indian.

The airport suffered losses till 2005-06. For the year 2011-12, its operating profits touched Rs 9.5 crore, including deprecation, from a meagre profit of Rs 83 lakh in 2006-07.


Union Minister for Corporate Affairs and Power M Veerappa Moily had recently said that he would see to it that Civil Aviation Minister Ajit Singh would inaugurate the International Airport by month end.

There are 454 airports and airstrips in the country of which the state-run Airports Authority of India (AAI) owns and manages 97 airports and 28 civil enclaves at defence airfields. Only 16 of them had been designated as international airports in the past. There are several other airports designated as 'limited international', for a restricted number of global flights from there.

The government plans to have 500 operational airports by 2020 and aims to attract private investment in aviation infrastructure to meet this end.


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coastaldigest.com news network
February 5,2020

Mangaluru, Feb 5: ‘Forum for the justice of December 19 Mangaluru firing victims’ has demanded that the policemen who are responsible for the death of two innocent men in Mangaluru one-and-a-half months ago should be booked for homicide. 

49-year-old Abdul Jaleel Kandak, a father of two, and 23-year-old Nausheen Kudroli, were killed in an arbitrary and unwarranted police firing during a disturbance occurred due to police baton charge in the city on December 2019. 

Addressing a press conference, Forum’s convenor Abdul Jaleel Krishnapur said that a judicial inquiry commission should be set up to probe into the police firing which claimed two lives and injured many other innocent civilians.  

“Already a murder case should have been filed against the policemen who opened fire on the people.  Instead, false cases have been booked against many innocent people including the victims. This is a blot on the society,” he said. 

He urged the government to direct the police department to drop false charges registered against the victims and take necessary action against the culprits in khaki. 

He said that the Form demands Rs 25 lakh each compensation for the kin of the two men murdered by the police and Rs 15 lakh compensation for those who injured in police firing on December 19.

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News Network
February 21,2020

Chikkamgaluru, Feb 21: Wazi Noronha, aka, Vojald, the father of Amulya Leona Noronha, who lives in Koppa taluk of Chickmagalur district has said that he was shocked by his daughter’s pro-Pakistan slogans.

“Let her rot in jail. I don’t mind if police break her bones, I don’t support what she said and I will not approach lawyers for her bail. She has committed a grave mistake,” he said.

Amulya, a 19-year-old student activist, was booked for sedition yesterday after she raised ‘Long Live Pakistan’ slogans at a CAA-NRC rally. A visibly embarrassed Asaduddin Owaisi, AIMIM chief and MP tried to snatch the mic away from her and slammed her. Karnataka Police have registered a case under IPC Section 124A (Offence of sedition) against Amulya.

Mr. Wazi, who owns a two-acre areca plantation and runs a poultry farm, said he would not make any attempts to get her bail. “Let the law take its course. I cannot approve of her statement,” he said.

He said he had cautioned his daughter against getting involved in protests. “I told her to complete studies first and later she could fight for poor people. But what she said yesterday is not acceptable. I don’t know what made her so. I hope a probe would bring out who prompted her to make such statements,” he said.

Mr. Wazi also admitted that he was associated with BJP and had worked for saffronite leaders like Shobha Karandlaje and D N Jeevaraj.

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News Network
February 4,2020

Bengaluru, Feb 4: The CBI has booked Karnataka cadre senior IPS officers Hemant Nimbalkar and Ajay Hilori along with eight others in connection with Rs 4,000-crore I-Monetary Advisory (IMA) scam in which gullible investors were allegedly cheated in the name of Islamic banking, officials said on Tuesday.

The move came after the CBI received an approval from the Karnataka government to proceed with investigation into alleged role of 1998-batch IPS officer Nimbalkar and 2008-batch IPS officer Hilori, they said.

Along with the two officers, the agency has also named the company IMA, its founder Mansoor Khan and others in the case.

The CBI had approached the state government seeking permission to proceed against the two officers who are in senior positions in the Karnataka Police and allegedly helped IMA founder Masoor Khan, they said.

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