The Rs. 120 crore greenfield project was initially scheduled be built under Public–private partnership with the Government of Karnataka. On 15 November 2007, the government of Karnataka awarded the Gulbarga Airport project to a consortium of Maytas Infra Ltd., NCC Infrastructure Holdings Ltd. and VIE India Project Development and Holding on a Build–operate–transfer basis. The concession period was to be 30 years, extendable by an additional 30 years, by mutual agreement. Gulbarga Airport Developers Pvt. Ltd., a Special Purpose Company, was established to sign the Project Development Agreement with the Infrastructure Development Department of the Government of Karnataka. The shareholding pattern of Maytas Infra, NCC and VIE in the SPC was 37%, 37% and 26% respectively. The agreement was subsequently signed on 2 April 2008. and the foundation stone for Phase I of the project was laid by former Chief Minister of Karnataka, Shri B. S. Yeddyurappa on 14 June 2008. Gulbarga airport was to have started operations in the latter half of 2012 but was delayed due to financial mismanagement/ disputes between the shareholders of Gulbarga Airport Development Ltd. The State Government terminated the contract in January 2015 for not complying with the Project Development Agreement, which required the completion of construction work by May 2012. The State Government then decided to complete the remaining work through its own Public Works Department. In September 2016, the State PWD started the first phase of work on the airport. This included extending the runway to 3.2 km. from the existing 1.9 km., to facilitate the landing of larger aircraft, and completing the compound wall. Construction of the terminal building and other facilities would be taken up in the second phase. On 26 August 2018, two Diamond Aircraft flew in from Hyderabad and landed on the runway at Gulbarga as a trial. Construction work was completed by August 2019 at a cost of Rs. 181 Crore, not including the cost of acquiring 742 acres of land. The airport was formally handed over to the AAI on 24 August 2019. The Karnataka Industrial Infrastructure Development Corporation, on behalf of the Government of Karnataka, signed a Memorandum of Understanding with AAI to develop, operate and maintain the airport. The Airport Was Inaugurated By Chief Minister Of Karnataka Shri B S Yediyurappa On 22 November 2019 and It Began Commercial Operations On The Same Day. The first commercial flight from Kalaburagi Airport to Bengaluru on 22 Nov took off at 3:10 PM and landed at Kempegowda International Airport Bengaluru at 4:10 PM. As per the report from Govt of India, the Kalaburagi airport has an occupancy of 80% as of 14th Feb 2020, compared to 60% and 70% occupancy of Belgavi and Hubballi airports respectively.
