The Steering Committee of the Civil Aviation Ministry, which considered the proposals of the Karnataka government to set up greenfield airports at Gulbarga, Bijapur, Hassan and Shimoga, on Friday granted "in principle' approval for the projects. The approval is subject to the condition that the Standard Operating Procedure will be formalised by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), Airports Authority of India (AAI) and Defence Ministry on air space management of the airports at Gulbarga and Bijapur in view of the defence operations in Pune and Bidar.