Bengaluru airport news: The hunt for Bengaluru’s second international airport has thrown up a fresh twist: Harohalli, located within Chief Minister DK Shivakumar’s own Kanakapura Assembly constituency,
has entered the race as a potential fourth option.
At a review meeting on Wednesday with Infrastructure Development Minister MB Patil and senior officials, Shivakumar reportedly suggested that authorities take a fresh look at land in the Harohalli belt, citing cheaper prices and simpler acquisition prospects.
Until now, three sites had been under consideration for the 2nd Bengaluru airport — Nelamangala and Kunigal along the Tumakuru Road corridor west of the city, and Somanahalli and Chudahalli along Kanakapura Road to the south. Harohalli lies roughly 24km further south of Chudahalli and falls squarely within the CM’s own political turf, unlike the other two southern sites, which sit closer to Bidadi, the epicentre of farmer protests over the proposed AI City project. The airport and the AI City have been planned to come up in close proximity to each other.
Harohalli Enters Bengaluru Second Airport Race
No final call was taken at Wednesday’s meeting, which officials described as only a preliminary review. “No decision was taken during the meeting,” a New Indian Express report quoted an official source as saying, adding that the full feasibility report, which is being prepared with a Singapore-based technical consultancy and KPMG’s financial assessment arm, is expected only by September.
Speaking to reporters afterward, Shivakumar repeated that the second Bengaluru airport final site would hinge on technical feasibility, minimal displacement, and manageable acquisition costs. “We have asked them to identify a location where land prices are low so that the project does not burden the state government,” he said, adding that the terrain should not be too hilly and should avoid displacing villages.
Bengaluru Second Airport Site To Prioritise Low Land Costs, Minimal Displacement
The Chief Minister has been consistent on one point: entire villages should not have to relocate, even if scattered homesteads within the chosen parcel need compensation. “Villages should not be shifted for the project,” he said, noting that a few standalone houses could be compensated instead.
DK Shivakumar Says 2nd Airport Will Come Up In Bengaluru South
He also confirmed, for the first time as CM, that the airport would come up somewhere in Bengaluru South, incidentally his home district, without naming an exact site. “It’s ok if we have to rehabilitate only a few houses,” he said, stressing that affordability for the state exchequer mattered just as much as minimising displacement.
The Deccan Herald quoted government sources as saying that the twin Kanakapura Road sites — Somanahalli and Chudahalli, spanning roughly 4,800 and 5,000 acres, respectively — remain the frontrunners, with officials even discussing merging the two into a single parcel. An AAI team had inspected all three original sites back in April 2025, but a subsequent AAI report in November reportedly flagged terrain and airspace concerns across all of them.
Somanahalli, Chudahalli Remain Frontrunners For 2nd Bengaluru Airport
Harohalli’s prospects may get a boost from connectivity. Namma Metro has already studied extending the Green Line by 24km from Silk Institute to Harohalli along Kanakapura Road, and the area is expected to be a key junction on the southern arc of the proposed Satellite Town Ring Road, linking Anekal and Kanakapura.
Harohalli Metro, STRR Connectivity Could Strengthen Airport Bid
Patil, however, maintained that Nelamangala remains in contention. “The final location will be decided only once we get the report from Meinhardt-KPMG,” he said, referring to the consortium expected to submit its findings by mid-September.
Once a site is finalised, the state’s proposal will go to the Airports Authority of India for approval — a call that will determine where Bengaluru’s second international airport eventually comes up, easing pressure on an increasingly congested Kempegowda International Airport in Devanahalli.
The urgency has only grown after neighbouring Tamil Nadu announced its own plans for a new airport near Hosur, close to the Karnataka border.
