Hassan Airport: A project grounded for over seven decades

The demand for the construction of an airport in Hassan, about 190 kilometres from Bengaluru, has a long history of over seven decades. However, the work has progressed at a snail’s pace, though the land acquisition began as early as 1966. The actual work on the ground began in 2021, and has showed hardly any progress in the last two years.

During the legislative assembly session held in Belagavi in December 2023, Minister for Infrastructure Development M.B. Patil, in response to a question from Hassan MLA Swaroop Prakash, stated that the project would be completed by 2024-25. Giving a status update of the project, he had said then that the project had been taken up at an estimated cost of ₹193.65 crore and ₹164.47 crore had been released.

Two years since, there is little progress. In his latest reply to a question raised by former minister H.D. Revanna, who represents Holenarasipur, on Friday (December 12, 2025), Mr. M.B. Patil almost repeated the same answer he gave two years ago.

Responding to the question on the actual status of the project, the minister stated, “So far ₹193.6 crore had been released, and of that ₹169.73 crore had been spent.” In other words, in the last two years around ₹5 crore had been spent.

In 1960s

The first proposal for the airport in Hassan was prepared by the Central Public Works Department in 1960. The Assistant Commissioner of Hassan acquired about 31 acres and 31 guntas of private land and another 58 acres of government land for the project in November 1966. In the second phase, another 12 acres of private land and 42 acres of government land were acquired in 1971.

However, the project did not see progress for decades.

The project received attention during the JD(S)-BJP alliance, headed by H.D. Kumaraswamy. Former Prime Minister and JD(S) supremo H.D. Deve Gowda laid the foundation stone for the construction in 2007. The government had signed an agreement with Jupiter Aviation Services Pvt Ltd for the construction of Hassan Greenfield Cargo Airfield project on the build-own-operate-transfer (BOOT) model. During the same time, the work on Shivamogga Airport was also initiated, and it has been operational since 2023.

Agreement cancelled

However, the Hassan Airport work did not see any movement. The project proponent had planned activities, including golf course and a hotel, and refused to start the work until the total land of 960 acres required for the project was handed over. However, the agreement with the private firm was cancelled when the JD(S) came to power again with the Congress in 2018.

When B.S. Yediyurappa became the Chief Minister, he announced ₹175 crore for the airport in his budget in 2021. Karnataka State Industrial Infrastructure Development Corporation (KSIIDC) was the project implementing agency and Ibrahim Sharief, a contractor from Tirthahalli, bagged the construction work.

Mr. M.B. Patil, in his written reply to an unstarred question, which was not taken for discussion in the House, stated that the work on the runway, taxiway, apron, passenger terminal building, and air traffic control building were under progress. However, he has not mentioned by when the project would be completed.