Big bird can land in new B’lore airport

Big bird can land in new B’lore airport
Friday May 11 2007 00:00 IST

BANGALORE: While the Airbus A-380’s promotion tour to Delhi and Mumbai has held the aviation sector spell-bound, the chances of the jumbo aircraft winging into the IT capital rest on the new Bangalore International Airport, which will be ready for take-off next April.

According to Bangalore International Airport Limited (BIAL) CEO Albert Bruner, the airport’s runway would easily accommodate the A-380 as it is being made to Code-F specifications, which demand a greater width for the runways, taxiways and the distance between two parallel taxiways.

“In any case, the A-380 is allowed to land on a Code-E runway,” Bruner said, explaining that the Code-E is the standard for a Boeing 747.

Though the airport would be able to take an A-380 when it opens next April, it may perhaps not be ready to handle a regular service. “Our terminal building may not be ready to board a two-level aircraft as yet,” Bruner said.

He reasoned that the capability to handle the football-field-sized aircraft on a regular basis would depend on the airport expansion plans in about six years or so -- which means a second runway and an extended terminal building. The reason that BIAL does not expect the A-380 in Bangalore yet is that Delhi and Mumbai are bigger markets, Bruner said.

Incidentally, the Delhi airport would be ready for Code-F standards only by 2008, while the Mumbai airport too may not be ready for the big bird as yet. Kingfisher Airlines, which has ordered five A-380s, proposes to start overseas flights from these two cities.

The aircraft are expected to be delivered in about five years’ time. The Delhi and Mumbai visits are part of a campaign of airport compatibility tests the manufacturer is conducting worldwide.