Warangal airport will take off soon: Ponnam

WARANGAL: Backward class welfare minister Ponnam Prabhakar officially announced on Sunday that Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy’s initiatives will soon realise the decades-long dream of establishing an airport at Mamnoor in Warangal.

Since 1930, Mamnoor airfield served air services during the Nizam rulers' reign. However, due to negligence by previous governments and a lack of development efforts, operations ceased in 1980. Additionally, land sharks encroached upon much of the airfield’s land, reducing the available area from approximately 1,140 acres to just 693 acres.

Officials from the Air Authority of India (AAI) conducted multiple surveys and submitted a proposal to the state government requesting Rs 1,200 crore in funding. They also sought an additional 300 acres of land to extend the runway from 1.8 km to 3.9 km.

The Central government endorsed the project by including Mamnoor airfield in the new UDAN (Ude Desh ka Aam Nagarik) scheme. However, the release of election notifications in 2023 temporarily halted progress.

During a recent review meeting led by Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy, the Cabinet approved the allocation of the necessary land to AAI for the airport’s establishment in Mamnoor. The Cabinet also directed relevant department officials to accelerate the project’s development.

Despite regulations preventing the establishment of new airports within a 150-km radius of Shamshabad airport until 2038, the GMR Group has stepped forward to develop Mamnoor airport, supported by the Congress government’s initiative.

“With the Congress government’s decision, the Warangal community’s aspiration for a state-of-the-art international airport on the city’s outskirts is about to become a reality,” Prabhakar stated. The new Mamnoor airport is expected to significantly boost the region’s connectivity and economic growth in the near future.