Chorus grows for keeping HAL Airport

Chorus grows for keeping HAL Airport
Budget Airlines Bat For It
Anshul Dhamija & Prashanth G N | TNN

Bangalore: The battle of the skies has spilled onto the tarmac. Does Bangalore need two airports? Despite the earlier agreement, a rethink seems to be on the cards, at least going by state infrastructure minister B Sriramulu’s statement: “The Centre has also not said anything more on the BIAL agreement. But I think we should make efforts to keep both (existing HAL airport and upcoming international airport at Devanahalli.”
The agreement between the Bangalore International Airport Ltd (BIAL) and the government stipulates that no other civilian airport will be permitted to operate within 150 km of the new one. Technically, this shuts the doors on HAL airport for civilian operations.
If New York can have
three airports, London four, and Mumbai and Chennai set to have three and two, respectively, why not multiple airports for Bangalore? As Capt. G R Gopinath, executive chairman, Air Deccan, says: “All great cities have multiple airports and Bangalore is one of the great cities of the world.”
However, the issue is not about which airport operates, but passenger convenience. For a short-haul flight (of around 45 minutes to an hour), a passenger needs at least 2-3 hours to reach the new airport, considering the lack of infrastructure. Passengers would have to fork out absurd amounts as taxi fares and that’s causing airlines some anguish. If an air ticket costs around Rs 1,500, getting to BIAL would cost anywhere Rs 800 to Rs 1,000 by taxi from the city.
Low-cost carriers (LCCs), which dominate most shorthaul routes, fear that passengers would not want to travel to Devanahalli and may lose traffic to train and bus services that ply on sectors like Bangalore-Hubli and Bangalore-Chennai.
While full-fare carriers are not too keen on operating out of two airports, low-cost carriers seem to be stepping up pressure on HAL to continue as the second base since the latter is said to offer substantially cheaper parking, landing and ground-handling services.
“When both airports begin to compete with each other, everything would improve which finally benefits the passenger,” said M Thiagarajan, MD, Paramount Airways.
If HAL handles short-haul flights, many airlines operating hop flights (combining short and long haul) like Chennai-Bangalore-Pune or Pune-Bangalore-Mangalore would have logistical problems in transferring passengers from BIAL to HAL. Shut HAL airport, lose Rs 150 crore annually
Bangalore: There is growing consensus that Bangalore is better off with two airports. Garry Kingshott, CEO-designate, JetLite, told The Times of India, “As a general rule, one is better off operating from one airport. It actually benefits the customer as everything happens under one roof.”
On its part, HAL is open to the airport being operational. It seems to be going ahead with its plans of setting up its MRO, training facility and academy with EADS and Jupiter Aviation at the airport. However, it would do well with some air traffic because shutting operations would mean a loss of at least Rs 150 crore annually.
HAL acting chairman Ashok Saxena said, “As a citizen, I would want the city to have two functional airports.”
Likely numbers
Bangalore is currently India’s fourth largest airport in terms of air traffic. According to a Lufthansa Consulting study, commissioned by BIAL, an optimistic view of the number of passengers in Bangalore international airport is 2,34,44,066 by 2025, with cargo at 5,38,844 tonnes.
The more likely figures are 1,84,41,082 passengers annually, with cargo at 4,69,179 tonnes.
Reaching Devanahalli
From — Time taken Electronics City — 2 hrs Sarjapur — 90 minutes JP Nagar — 90 minutes Vijayanagar — 90 minutes People from these areas have to more or less pass through Mekhri Circle and Hebbal, which is the starting point of the national highway to Devanahalli airport. It is likely that traffic will slow down at Hebbal, as it’s the transition point from South and South West Bangalore.
toiblr.reporter@timesgroup.com