Visit Devanahalli airport’s original!

Visit Devanahalli airport’s original!
The Times of India

Zurich/Bangalore: Want an insight into what the Bangalore International Airport at Devanahalli will be like? Just take a look at the Zurich airport. ‘Connections’ between the two are many. Both Bangalore and Zurich have the same people at the helm of operations: the Unique company.

The two airports are positioned similarly—as transit traffic hubs — amidst bigger international airports. If Zurich is a transit magnet for Europe, Bangalore is to be the same for South Asia.

There is also a ‘constructive’ bridge between the two: The man who oversaw the expansion of the Zurich airport — Albert Brunner — is in the driving seat for BIA as its CEO.

“We will use lessons learnt at Zurich, both positive and negative, to make BIA better,’’ he told The Times of India in Bangalore.

Zurich airport has many ‘unique’ features. There is the trivia: The 2.2 billion Swiss francs expansion in 2000 used more steel in construction than what was used for the Eiffel Tower!

But it is more unique in its utilitarian qualities: the blending of all kinds of transportation into one hub. “Air, road and rail traffic operate out of the same place. This is so convenient that about 50 per cent of people travelling in and out of Zurich airport use public transport to reach destinations,’’ Brunner explained.

A person taking a Swiss or any other flight from the airport, arrives by train at the underground station, takes the lift up one floor and does his check-in for his flight, out of the same building. This is applicable to those taking domestic trains as well as international ones from all corners of Europe.

People also take local buses that go into the airport terminal and head for the check-in counters. Of course, for those who insist on bringing cars, there is parking for 12,000 vehicles outside the terminal and highways that link Zurich directly to the airport.

A similar design is being thought of, for BIA. A train underground station and a bus station servicing the airport are under discussion with the Southern Railways and the BMTC.

Operational lessons from Zurich — where at peak hour 2,000 passengers arrive off nine flights within 20 minutes — are being learnt. Still, Bangalore has a unique advantage over Zurich: it may be starting small, but it has double the land acquired for Zurich, making expansion possibilities almost limitless.