Hosur Airport: Tamil Nadu To File For Site Clearance Soon, Karnataka Counters with South Bengaluru Proposal

Hosur Airport Alert: The much awaited Hosur Airport project is set to achieve another milestone of progress as the Tamil Nadu government will reportedly apply for site clearance for the greenfield infrastructure in the next two weeks. THe development has come after the government identified around 2,000 acres of land area in Krishnagiri district for the airport project.

As the state government plans to apply for site clearance for the greenfield infrastructure in coming weeks, there are also plans to kick-start land acquisition process for the airport in the next four months, reported Deccan Herald citing sources.

The site clearance is one of the key approvals required from the Union Civil Aviation Ministry to proceed with the project. The plan is to build an exclusive airport for the industrial area, located next to Bengaluru city. The airport is planned to handle around 3 crore passengers annually.

The land acquisition process for the Hosur airport is likely to begin before the issuance of notification for the 2026 Assembly elections. Whereas, the Krishnagiri district administration is preparing the Land Development Plan for the project.

The state government is striving to get mandatory clearance for the airport without any delay and hence is attempting to expedite the process of preparing documents to move the civil aviation ministry.

The Hosur airport plan will require two levels of approval from the Centre, the first is the site clearance followed by in-principle approval. The state government will apply for the site clearance approval in the next two weeks, a source told DH.

Karnataka Steps Up Game With Another Airport Proposal

The proposed timeline for Hosur airport construction has prompted Karnataka government to further speed up its proposal to bring another airport in Bengaluru. The proposed Hosur airport is aimed to attract passengers from southern Bengaluru, reported Times of India. Hosur is just 40-50 kilometeres from Bengaluru, which may cause merely an hour or two for people to reach the city.

The Karnataka government is reportedly planning to build second airport in the state capital and operationalise the old HAL airport in the city.

The world-class Kempegowda International Airport with its premium facilities and massive passenger capacity stands as the only functional airport of the metro city. As KIA has already exceeded its design capacity, Karnataka state government views the second airport as an important measure to handle demand expected to double within a decade, reported ToI. However, the process is still in its land identification phase.

As per TOI report, identifying suitable land within a 100-120 km radius of the city is a challenge given its dense population, environmental, financial, and airspace constraints. As a result, the proposed airport project in Bengaluru may be delayed.