Airport at full capacity: Officials

Airport at full capacity: Officials
BY R. JAYAPRAKASH
BENGALURU








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The stakeholders of the Bengaluru International Airport Limited who met in the city on Tuesday have concluded that BIA is running to almost full capacity with 11 million passengers and that urgent measures are needed to relieve the pressure on the new airport.

At a high level meeting between ministry of civil aviation (MoCA) secretary Ashok Chawla, Karnataka chief secretary Sudhkar Rao and a battery of officials, it was decided that the Karnataka High Court which is hearing a PIL into BIA issues on Friday would be apprised of the situation, and that the court will decide the future course of action.

A highly placed official who was part of the delegation from New Delhi told Deccan Chronicle that the marathon meeting witnessed debates and deliberations about the fallout of breaching the concessional agreement.

“Issues pertaining to facilities at the BIA, User Development Fee, reopening of HAL airport for civilian services, expansion plans of BIA, aesthetics of the main terminal building and connectivity were brought up. We had a detailed discussion on the demand for going back to HAL airport for operation of domestic flights. We are concerned. As partners in BIAL, we can’t afford to have a discordant relationship with the other stakeholder,” he said.

“Having said that, we are fully aware of the fact that BIA is crowded and there needs to be a contingency plan to han dle high air passenger traffic which will shoot up to 14 million by the end of this year,” he added.

On the UDF issue, the official termed reports of a substantial reduction as rubbish. “The BIAL proposed UDF charges at Rs 675 for domestic and Rs 1,050 for international passengers but no final decision has been taken so far,” he said.