40 aircraft stands at BIA

40 aircraft stands at BIA
The Times of India

Bangalore: The Bangalore international airport at Devanahalli will have 40 aircraft stands and a terminal that can accommodate 11.5 million passengers per year.

Unveiling redesign package that the Bangalore International Airport Limited (BIAL) drew in response to Union civil aviation minister Praful Patel’s demand, CEO Albert Brunner said: “We had initially projected a demand of 4.7 million passengers by 2008. Due to change in economic landscape this has touched 6.8 million by 2008. We have now redesigned keeping in mind the new projection for 2015, which is 11.5 million.’’

The airport was originally to have 13 aircraft stands and a five acre terminal. This has gone up to 40 stands and an eight acre terminal.

The costs, frozen at Rs 1,412 crore for the old design, may now touch Rs 1,930 crore. Most of the additional work — terminal, runway and taxiway and most aircraft stands will be built by the original contractor Larsen and Toubro, as these are “crucial.’’

The expanded airport will meet the construction deadline of April 2, 2008. “We are half-way through our construction period. We will have more in the next half. Some bits not crucial to the airport, like aircraft stands, may not be ready by April 2,’’ Brunner said. The non-crucial areas will be tendered afresh. The process is expected to be completed by September.

BIAL is signing agreements for fuel facility, into plane fuel,

cargo handling, ground handling, flight catering, hotel and retail areas. The agreement for fuel facility has already been signed, while cargo facility agreement for 15 plus five years was signed with two consortia — Singapore Airport Terminal Services-Air India and Bobba group-Menzies Aviation on Tuesday. The two consortia will build cargo handling facilities.