K'taka: New runway at Bajpe airport thrown open

Mangalore, May 10: The newly-constructed 2.45 km totally concretised runway at the Bajpe Airport, near here, was thrown open for domestic use, with the first Jet Airways flight from Bangalore making a safe landing on it today.

Around noon, the second flight from Mumbai landed on the runway, built at a cost of Rs 40 crore. ''We are expecting Air Express flight to land on the runway soon so that International Air flight service becomes operational,'' Airports Authority of India Director M R Vasudeva told reporters here.

Passengers of both Jet Airways and Alliance Airways (Mumbai- Mangalore) expressed happiness over being the first batch of people to have landed on the new runway.

Mr Vasudeva recalled that the airport had already been declared as customs airport with effect from May three last. All arrangements had been made for setting up an immigration centre at the airport for International flight service, he added.

UNI