Bangalore's new airport takes off, finally

Bangalore's new airport takes off, finally
Praveena Sharma
Saturday, May 24, 2008 03:32 IST
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After several delays, the Bengaluru International Airport began operations on Friday at 10 pm

BANGALORE: After weathering many storms, Bengaluru International Airport (BIA) finally took off on Friday with Indian Airlines flight IC609 from Mumbai touching the runway at 10.40 pm.

The atmosphere at the new Bangalore airport was thick with uncertainty as operator Bangalore International Airport Ltd (BIAL) formally launched its operations. Adding to the confusion was the airport’s public relations agency’s inability to confirm whether the first flight to land there was Jet Airways or Indian Airlines.

The plush new airport, which saw its launch date being deferred three times on flimsy grounds, has been designed to handle over 12 million passengers annually. With BIA’s launch, Bangalore’s old airport HAL will close to commercial flights.

HAL was designed for an annual load of 2.5 million passengers but its capacity was stretched to 10 million passengers as air traffic grew significantly at the information technology hub in the last few years.

Last Wednesday, BIAL CEO Albert Brunner had said that the new airport could handle the high traffic and its terminal could accommodate 2,733 passengers in peak hours.

With 42 parking bays and eight aerobridges, the new airport has the capacity to handle 720 aircraft movements per day.

BIA shareholders include Siemens Project Ventures, Larsen & Toubro, Unique Zurich Airport, and the governments of India and Karnataka.

Due to growing business activity, the southern city attracts a number of business travellers. Corporate houses and frequent fliers have repeatedly complained about the distance of the new airport from the city.