Mangalore International Airport

The airport is near Bajpe, around northeast of Mangaluru city centre. It is on top of a hill, with two tabletop runways (09/27 and 06/24). Only two other airports in India have tabletop runways – Kozhikode and Lengpui. The very small and basic terminal was renovated in the early 2000s, adding parking controls, additional seating and additional cafés. The airport was initially used for limited domestic flights, mainly to Mumbai and Bengaluru. The operation of international flights started in 2006 with Air India Express flying to Dubai. Mangalore Airport was a customs airport for six years, from 3 October 2006 to 3 October 2012, before it was granted the status of international airport. Until 2005, the small runway meant the airport could only handle Boeing 737-400 size aircraft. The longer runway now handles slightly larger aircraft. On 10 January 2006, an Airbus A319 of Kingfisher Airlines landed on the new runway. On 28 September 2012, an Airbus A310 landed for the first time at Mangaluru. It was a charter flight for the Hajj pilgrims to Mecca, Saudi Arabia. From 2011 to 2012, the airport had a revenue of and an operating profit of , up from in 2006–07. In 2012–13 the airport handled a landmark 1.02 million passengers with 11,940 aircraft movements. In July 2019, the central government approved leasing of the airport through public-private partnership (PPP) to the Adani Enterprises, for operations, management and development for the next 50 years. This airport is accredited by the Airports Council International (ACI) under the Airport Health Accreditation (AHA) programme. ==Facilities==

Runway The first runway (09/27), long, was opened in 1951. It is a tabletop runway, with landing approaches presented with the extreme edges of a hillside. The edges of the hill drop into a valley from a height of about to ) within a short distance of just on the east of the runway and from about to on the western side. and the first to have a runway made of concrete. After the crash of Air India Express Flight 812, the minister reaffirmed on 30 May 2010 that the runway extension will take place and will take into account the spillover area required during an emergency. Passenger terminal The road to the new terminal reduces the distance between the city and the airport by about . The airport had a trial run of the terminal for domestic flights on 16 December 2009. Air traffic control The construction of a new air traffic control (ATC) tower was completed in June 2014, and commissioned for one-month trial on 19 January 2015. On 5 September 2013 the Airports Authority of India commissioned a DGCA approved advanced automated air traffic management system, replacing the older system. The system enhances flight safety by providing flight plans, direction finders, and air-ground-data link messages. In 2011 and 2012 chartered flights landed at Mangalore International Airport and carried passengers from the old terminal building. The ICG proposed the stationing of two of its Dornier 228 aircraft at the air station. A new 2,400-metre taxiway will be built parallel to the runway and join the runway ahead of the landing threshold, and though slated for completion in September 2016, only Phase I was completed by March 2017. • The 812 crash inquiry recommendation for runway lengthening not having been implemented due to funding obstacles, its length remains . • Passenger volume projections for the year 2025 made by the AAI while constructing the new passenger terminal were already exceeded in 2012. • Commencement of wide-body aircraft flights from the airport, under a public-private partnership model, depending on allotment of of land from the government. ==Airlines and destinations==

Presently, it ranks 12 in the list of airports with international passenger traffic after Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Kochi, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Thiruvananthapuram, Ahmedabad, Kozhikode, Tiruchirappalli international airports. The airport had 8.91 lakh passengers in the FY 2011-12 and witnessed a growth rate of 5.44%. According to the airport sources, it has a target of achieving 16 lac passengers traffic in the FY 2016–17. == Air cargo complex ==

Air cargo complex of the airport was commissioned in the year 2013. Major commodities are fresh vegetables, chilled fish, ornamental fish, cashews, flowers and machinery parts. ==Ground transport==

Taxis ply between the airport and the city of Mangaluru. Prepaid taxi service is available around the clock at the airport counter in the arrival hall. The nearest railway station is Jokatte railway station. ==Accidents and incidents==

• On 19 August 1981, Indian Airlines Flight 557, a HAL 748 VT-DXF overshot the old runway 27 at Mangalore-Bajpe Airport in wet weather. The aircraft came to a halt just beyond the runway edge. While there were no fatalities, the aircraft was damaged beyond repair and was written off. One of the passengers was Veerappa Moily, then Finance Minister of Karnataka. The starboard wing impacted the concrete socket of the instrument landing system (ILS) localiser antenna, rendering it unusable.{{cite news ==See also==