Airport in Devanahalli: Central team puts off decision

Airport in Devanahalli: Central team puts off decision

Bangalore Bureau

BANGALORE: A Union Civil Aviation Ministry team, which inspected the progress of works along with final flight trials at the international airport in Devanahalli near Bangalore on Friday, has decided to take the final call on “Monday or Tuesday” in Delhi on whether to stick to the deadline of March 30 for the commencement of flight operations.

Sources in the Civil Aviation Ministry told The Hindu that the top-ranking officials of the Ministry, who formed the visiting team, would hold a round of consultations and also another with the Directorate-General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) in Delhi either on Monday or Tuesday when the decision would be taken.

The new airport has to obtain licence from the Directorate-General of Civil Aviation for commencement of flight operations. The DGCA had made 59 observations regarding various issues concerning the commencement of operation of flights. In this background, a Union Civil Aviation Ministry team, headed by its Secretary Ashok Chawla, inspected the works on Friday.

Meanwhile, before returning to Delhi, the officials of the Civil Aviation Ministry will hold a meeting with top-ranking officials of the State government, including Chief Secretary Sudhakar Rao, in Bangalore on Saturday on issues related to the new airport as well as the road connectivity from the city. However, the decision on the commencement of operations would be taken only in Delhi. However, it put off the decision to early next week. The sources said that there were no major hurdles for the commencement of operation of flights. However, they wanted to decide on the deadline for commencement of operation only after further discussions and getting more inputs on the status of works.

Meanwhile, even as Bangalore International Airport Limited (BIAL) Chief Executive Officer Albert Brunner declined to accept the Ministry’s suggestion to desist from charging User Development Fee for domestic passengers for the first four months till the auditing of accounts was done, the Ministry has decided to take up the matter again with the BIAL.