Karnataka has proposed name change for four airports: Centre  

The Ministry of Civil Aviation has received a request from the State government to name four airports in Karnataka after eminent personalities.

The Ministry of Civil Aviation has received a request from the State government to name four airports in Karnataka after eminent personalities.

The four are — Vijayapura airport, Hubballi airport, Belagavi airport, and Shivamogga airport, and the proposed names by the State government are Jagajyothi Basaveshwara airport, Krantiveera Sangolli Rayanna airport, Kittur Rani Chennamma airport, and Rashtrakavi Dr. K.V. Puttappa (Kuvempu) airport respectively.

Minister of State for Civil Aviation Murlidhar Mohol, replying to an unstarred question on the proposed naming of airports, in the Lok Sabha during the ongoing session of Parliament, gave details of 10 States that had proposed names for existing and upcoming airports.

“In general, airports are known by the name of the city where they are located, unless another specific name is proposed by the respective State government supported by a resolution passed in the State Legislative Assembly, which is then considered in consultation with other ministries/departments and then sent to the Union Cabinet for final approval,” the Minister said in his reply.

During the legislature session in Belagavi in December 2023, the Karnataka government had said that it was considering the proposal to name the Hubli-Dharwad airport after Sangolli Rayanna and the Belagavi airport after Veera Rani Kittur Chennamma.

During the session, Large and Medium Industries and Infrastructure Development Minister M.B. Patil had said that only the Civil Aviation Ministry and the Airports Authority of India (AAI) had the authority to name an airport and that States could only send a proposal on it in the form of resolutions by the State legislature.

Of the four airports, the ones in Hubballi and Belagavi are operated by the AAI and the Shivamogga and Vijayapura are greenfield airports.