The Airports Authority of India (AAI) has initiated work on expanding the terminal building at the Mangaluru International Airport. The ₹132.24-crore project is likely to be completed by April 2020.

The expansion will help the airport handle an additional 1 million passengers a year.

Karnataka Governor Vajubhai Vala laid the foundation stone for the project on Friday.

Nalin Kumar Kateel, an MP from Dakshina Kannada, said on the occasion that the new building can handle 730 passengers at a time. The existing terminal building has an area of 19,500 sq metres.

The AAI will add another 11,343 sq metres at the international arrival area.

Passenger volume

The new facility will help increase the passenger handling capacity to 1,000 passengers.

Kateel said the expansion will help increase the annual passenger handling capacity of the airport from the existing 2 million to 3 million passengers. The airport handled 2.34 million passengers in 2017-18 as against 1.75 million in 2016-17.

Two more baggage conveyors will be set up at the international arrival area. Apart from this, one more baggage conveyor will be set up at the domestic arrival area, he said. The MP said the Centre has been requested to provide additional air connectivity to places such as New Delhi and Bengaluru and flight services to Goa and Pune.

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