Old Bangalore airport stays, rules High Court

Old Bangalore airport stays, rules High Court
IBN Live

Bangalore: The old Bangalore airport must be retained and the business agreement according to which had to be shut down must be renegotiated, the Karnataka High Court ruled on Wednesday.

The court asked the state and Central governments, the Airports Authority of India to renegotiate the deal with the Bangalore International Airport Limited (BIAL).

The governments had signed a deal with BIAL that the existing HAL airport in the city would be shut once the new private airport becomes operational. The new airport, which is 40 km away from the city, is scheduled to become operational on May 11.

City civic groups have said roads to the new airport have not been built and the government should retain the HAL terminal. At least four public interest petitions were filed in the High Court against the closing the HAL airport.

The new airport is supposed to handle 10.1 million users by 2010. but HAL airport is already handling 10.5 million passengers.