Karnataka Yet to Submit Second Bengaluru Airport Proposal to Centre, Says Minister

The Karnataka government has not yet submitted a formal proposal to the Union government for the construction of Bengaluru's second international airport, Minister of State for Civil Aviation Murlidhar Mohol informed the Lok Sabha. The statement comes even as the Airports Authority of India (AAI) has completed a pre-feasibility study covering three shortlisted sites across the region.

The clarification was issued in response to an unstarred question raised in Parliament by Bengaluru Central MP P C Mohan. According to the Minister, the pre-feasibility report completed by the AAI was sent to the Karnataka state government. However, the Centre confirmed that it has received no formal application under the Greenfield Airports Policy from either the Karnataka government or any airport developer to move the project forward.

Meanwhile, local concerns regarding the proposed infrastructure project have intensified. Farmers along the Bengaluru–Ramanagara border have raised fears over potential land acquisition, claiming that a location for the second airport has already been finalized by authorities despite the lack of a formal submission to the Union government.

Alongside the status of the second airport project, the Civil Aviation Ministry provided details regarding current operations and traffic levels at Kempegowda International Airport (KIA) in Bengaluru. The Ministry highlighted that KIA currently operates with an annual passenger handling capacity of 51.5 million passengers per annum (MPPA).

During the current financial year (FY 2026-27 till June 2026), Kempegowda International Airport recorded a daily average footfall of 1.23 lakh passengers. The Ministry noted that this volume reflects steady passenger traffic growth across both domestic and international travel sectors.

To cater to increasing air travel demand, KIA's terminal capacity is slated to expand to 80 MPPA by August 2030. A major contributor to this planned capacity enhancement will be the Phase 2 expansion of Terminal 2, which will scale up that terminal's handling capacity from 25 MPPA to 45 MPPA. The broader KIA expansion plan aims to more than double the airport's passenger handling capacity by 2035.