‘Big’ could be bountiful for BIAL

‘Big’ could be bountiful for BIAL
Wednesday April 30 2008 09:49 IST

Monica Jha
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BANGALORE: THE operations of 80-seater and smaller aircraft from the HAL Airport may not cause any revenue loss to the Bangalore International Airport Limited (BIAL).

Rather it could prove profitable if BIAL allots slots to 'wide-bodied' aircraft.

About 40 flights per day would operate from HAL Airport if smaller aircraft were allowed, said HAL officials. Cutting down on 40 flights of small aircraft could also mean 40 free slots for bigger aircraft at the BIA.

Regardless of the size of aircraft, only 30 flights can take-off in an hour from a single runway.

BIA, presently has only one runway and can allow only 30 flights an hour. Therefore, the replacement of a small aircraft by a bigger one means service to more passengers and more user charges for airlines and passengers.

The passenger service charges payable to the airport operator will increase for aircraft with higher capacity, owing to the increased number of passengers.

They can collect more User Development Fee (UDF) due to the increase in the number of passengers.

If an ATR (60-seater) is replaced by an Airbus-320 (180- seater), owing to thrice the number of passengers, all passengerrelated charges would also increase three times.

Airlines also pay a royalty to airport operators for ground and handling facilities.

The amount depends on the turnover (usually 20 per cent of the total) of the airline. With an increase in the number of passengers, the turnover of the airlines and the royalty paid to the airport will increase. The same holds good for cargo carriers.

BIAL, arguably is capable of handling A-380 aircrafts, each of which can carry around 850 passengers.

Imagine the increase in profits by allotting an ATR slot to a A-380! The free slots can also be allotted to international carriers which would again mean a higher revenue to airport operators.

BIAL has received requests from many international airlines to fly international routes from Bangalore for the first time.

Many other international airlines which operate from Bangalore have requested an increase in the frequency once the BIA starts functioning The fleet of smaller carriers, proposed to operate from the HAL Airport comprise only ATR and Embraer aircraft.

ATRs (72- seaters) are used by Air Deccan, Jet Airways and Kingfisher Airlines, while Embraer (72-seater) is flown only by Paramount Airways among the designated airlines operating from Bangalore.

All these flights to be operated from the HAL airport will be short-haul flights and will connect the HAL Airport to domestic destinations like Hyderabad, Chennai, Thiruvananthapuram, Kochi, Madurai, Hubli, Mangalore, Vishakhapatnam, Coimbatore and Calicut.