‘Project on track’

‘Project on track’
TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Bangalore: Considering that Karnataka may not have a government by April next year, will the Rs 2,500-crore Bangalore International Airport take off as scheduled?
Well, BIAL is confident it will. “Government or no government, BIAL airport will be operational starting March 30, 2008,’’ said Marcel Hungerbuehler, COO of BIAL, on the sidelines of a press briefing.
Trials of various facilities and processes will kickoff beginning December. “Most of the work will be completed by the year-end, barring some work inside the terminal building, which will get done early next year,’’ said Hungerbuehler. He said the trials of test flights will begin by February. In a first of its kind among Indian airports, BIAL has put in place an integrated passengerbaggage reconciliation system — developed by SITA, an IT solutions provider for the air transport industry — to ensure minimal loss of baggage. Currently, each airline has its own baggage tracking system at every airport. The cost of the BIAL baggage project will be passed on to the passenger, which works out to Rs 1.1 per bag.
Once the airport opens, it will cater to 10.5 million passengers and handle about 8 million baggage items.