Jet, set, go!

Jet, set, go!
After many months of turbulence, the Bengaluru International Airport is finally set to soar on Saturday. With it, the city’s reputation, too, will take to the skies. So settle in your seats and let your senses take flight. Team TOI wishes you a pleasant journey
Anshul Dhamija | TNN


The Bengaluru International Airport (BIA) will indeed take to the skies on May 24. The opening of the new airport is a perfect Bollywood script in itself with the typical twists and turns.
After three attempts, BIA may finally take flight. The Rs 3,500-crore greenfield airport was first set to have taken off on March 30. That date got postponed by four weeks as per recommendations made by the directorate general of civil aviation (DGCA).
The DGCA had cited 59 safety irregularities at the new airport, for which it was unwilling to issue BIA the required licences to operate. The most prominent of these include shortage of skilled air traffic control (ATC) personnel and delays in construction of ATC facilities.
Soon after, the ministry of civil aviation (MoCA) wired a communique to BIAL asking them to choose an opening date after May 10. In desperation, BIAL, which was losing Rs 1.1 crore per day due to the delay in take-off, told the ministry that it would like to open on May 11.
However, at this point in time, the opening got a political twist. With indications that Karnataka, which had been under President’s rule, may go to polls in May, there were fears that the opening of BIA could cause a severe backlash for the principal political party. For one, lack of infrastructure leading to the new airport may throw up a huge political blame game.
It was then cited that the Congress would look to buy time to put infrastructure in place, thus using that as a weapon to attack the JD(S)- BJP government headed by H D Kumaraswamy.
Well, that script played itself out, as the chorus of keeping HAL airport grew louder and louder. It had started to scream out of the rooftops such that the Karnataka High Court and, subsequently the Supreme, Court had to take control of the matter. Both courts deftly suggested to the Centre to re-examine the concessions agreement with BIAL, keeping in mind public opinion and concern.
On April 28, the first high-level meeting between MoCA and the BIAL CEO took place in pursuance of an advice by the Karnataka HC. At the end of the meeting, BIAL CEO Albert Brunner came back to Bangalore with an open offer from the MoCA which read, “BIAL has been asked to consider keeping the old airport open for small planes (80-seaters and below) for regional connectivity. We asked them to consider this so that people taking 40- to 45-minute flights out of Bangalore don’t have to spend over an hour just reaching the new facility. We will meet again on May 12 as the issue is too complex to be resolved in one meeting.’’
On May 12, in less than 90 minutes, it was decided to shut down HAL and get BIA off the ground. The date finalized for BIA’s takeoff was May 23, 12.01 am. BIA was hoping to get third-time lucky, but fate had something else in store. Forty-five minutes after announcing the date at a press meet, BIA announced a delay of 24 hours. Now, the new departure time is set at 12:01 am on May 24.
If that goes well, in another 12 hours, the tech capital of India will have its very own world-class airport.