Devanahalli to pip Hyderabad

Devanahalli to pip Hyderabad
Airport to take off on March 28
From B S Arun, DH News Service, New Delhi:
It is official. The new Bangalore International Airport at Devanahalli will take off on March 28, 2008. It will also beat by a few days the Hyderabad international airport which is scheduled to be inaugurated on April 2.

Thus, in the space of a week next year, two state-of-the-art, greenfield airports will be commissioned in the country. The Kochi airport was the last major international airport to be opened in the country in 1999.
The Bangalore International Airport Limited, the special purpose vehicle created to construct and run the airport by the consortium consisting of Siemens, Larson and Toubro and Zurich Airport, has written to the civil aviation ministry setting March 28 for the inauguration of the Rs 1,930-crore project. It has requested that the prime minister be invited by the ministry to inaugurate the venture.
Approach woes
Even while agreeing to this date, the ministry continues to worry over the approach road to the airport from the City. Senior officials told Deccan Herald on Monday that the ministry was not sure whether the international airport would have a decent approach road when it is thrown open to commercial traffic. The trumpet intersection of the main access road and National Highway 7 is still bogged down in legal hurdles. The official sources said the BIAL had recently written to the ministry and the latter, in return, wrote to the Karnataka chief secretary to take immediate steps in this regard as not much time has been left for the opening of the airport.
The project is now 85 per cent complete. Construction of the runway is complete, as also the taxiway. At the terminal building, finishing works are in progress. The BIAL has made some changes in the design of the airport after the ministry found it to be too “factory like”. Following the traffic boom, the airport authorities were forced to revise the capacity of the airport — from the earlier planned 4.5 million per annum passengers, it is being constructed to handle 11.4 million in the first phase. The new design will see 36 aircraft stands as against the earlier planned 20, while the apron area will be enhanced from 1.8 lakh square metres to 2.6 lakh square metres. The terminal building area will also increase from the original 55,850 square metres to 71,000 square metres.
The ATC will be equipped to handle 27 aircraft per hour instead of planned 20.