Warangal:
The Mamnoor Airfield near Warangal is set to come back to life, with the sound of planes taking off and landing becoming a reality soon. After years of anticipation, the long-awaited revival of Mamnoor Airport is expected by the end of 2024. This is part of the Regional Connectivity Scheme (RCS-Udan), which aims to improve air travel in smaller cities.
One of the major hurdles to reopening the airport has now been cleared. The GMR Group has agreed to lift an important restriction, known as the Exclusivity Clause – 5.2.2. This clause previously blocked the development of any new airport within 150 km of Rajiv Gandhi International Airport (RGIA) in Shamshabad until 2029. Now, with this restriction gone, Mamnoor Airport can move forward.
Currently, Mamnoor Airfield has around 706 acres of land, but it needs at least 900 acres to meet the requirements of the Airports Authority of India (AAI). It’s now up to the State Government to acquire the remaining land for the airport to become fully functional.
Last year, officials from the Revenue Department, AAI, and the Survey and Land Records Department inspected nearby villages to identify land that could be acquired for the airport. They looked at Nakkalapally, Gadepalli, and Mamnoor villages near the existing airstrip. There’s also a proposal to exchange government land, currently used by PV Narasimha Rao Veterinary University, with local farmers in return for their land, which would be used to expand the airstrip.
For the airport to handle larger planes like Boeing airplanes, the current runway will need to be extended from 1.8 km to 3.9 km.
The Mamnoor airfield was originally built in the 1930s, but it stopped functioning in the mid-1980s. Since then, it has mostly been a topic of political discussion, rather than a project for real development in the Warangal region.
