Bangalore’s new airport just got BIGGER

Bangalore’s new airport just got BIGGER

Indian Express

With air traffic projections for Bangalore soaring each time they are calculated, the new greenfield airport there is all set to undergo a major mid-course redesigning to complete by 2008 most of what it had earlier planned to accomplish in the second phase by 2015.

The biggest change: ramping up the capacity of the terminal building to handle annual passenger traffic of 11.4 million by 2008 itself—this was the estimate for 2015—instead of the first phase target of 6.8 million.

The board of the Bangalore International Airport Ltd. has already given an in-principle approval to this redesigning that will cost close to Rs 450 crore. This will also involve an increase in aircraft parking bays from 18 to 30 given that six international carriers are already operating to and from Bangalore.

This major upgrade was prompted after the Civil Aviation Ministry intervened at a recent project review meeting arguing that traffic projections made were no longer relevant given the over decade-long delay in the project. For example, while the first phase for the Bangalore airport is to be completed by 2008, the traffic projection of 6.8 million passengers is expected to be crossed next year itself.

‘‘We have got an in-principle clearance from the board on the redesigning and will obtain the formal approval once the plan is fully worked out,’’ BIAL CEO Albert Brunner told The Sunday Express.

Brunner has been in and out of Delhi holding meetings with Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel who has been pushing for the redesign. Broadly, sources said, Phase I and II have been fused with the base figures of 2015 being used as a guide in this phase itself. However, BIAL does not plan to build a second runway in the first phase for which it has acquired land. Construction has already started on this Rs 1400-crore project, so a midway escalation in costs will require further approvals.

The private consortium building the project is L&T, Siemens and Zurich Airport with Karnataka State Investment and Industrial Development Corporation and the Airports Authority of India accounting for 26 per cent share.