Who says HAL Airport is closed?

Who says HAL Airport is closed?
By: B V Shiva Shankar
Date: 2008-10-01

Bangalore:




King RULES: Private flights operating at HAL Airport
'HAL doesn't care for the rules'

Hundreds of commercial flights are landing and taking off from HAL Airport although the government is telling the world it is closed for commercial use.

The Centre closed HAL Airport on May 23, the moment the new Bengaluru International Airport began its operations.

The closure was in keeping with a concessionaire agreement signed with the promoters of the new airport.

The government notification said the airport would "no longer be available for commercial civil aviation operations except at times of national emergency."

Flouting rules?

"It seems HAL does not care for the rules," said Stanely Sampath Kumar, branch secretary, Airport Authority Employees Union, Bangalore Branch.

He has obtained records through the Right to Information Act that show that at least eight planes are touching down and taking off from HAL Airport every day.

The who's who of India Inc are quietly using HAL Airport, while it remains closed to ordinary citizens.

Among its top users are the GMR group and the Reddy brothers, mining lords from Bellary.

Vijay Mallya of the UB Group used the airport just before the launch of international flights last month.

"The Kingfisher flight landed here a day before the launch and took off for Tirupati for a puja," said a source.

Flight trials

HAL is also open to private airlines conducting flight trials. Each trial fetches a few lakhs for HAL. "When the airlines are paying HAL, how can we say it is closed for commercial operations?" wondered Sampath Kumar.

BJP Rao, chief manager, HAL Airport, told MiD DAY, "The flights are non-scheduled. No scheduled flight is coming here. And we are not collecting any fee for chartered flights."

Thiruvengadam B C, a lawyer who has petitioned the courts against commercial operations at HAL, said, "They are collecting money for flight trails. They are not collecting anything for chartered flights because no airport can charge a fee for aircraft with less than 80 seats."

A Kingfisher spokesperson said, "We are using the HAL Airport because it is strategically useful for us. We don't have any problem so long as HAL has none with us."