Flight trials on BIAL will begin on Jan 15: Official

Bangalore, Nov 28 (UNI) Flight trials at the new Bangalore International Airport (BIAL), coming up at Devanahalli, 35 km from here, will begin on January 15, BIAL Chief Operation Officer Marcel Hungerbuehler said today.

Speaking to newspersons on the sidelines of BIAL signing an agreement with SITA to introduce baggage reconciliation system in the airport, he said most of the work relating to physical structure had been completed and final touches were being given to the terminal building, apron, duty free shops and food courts.

''The runway is ready and night landing facility is being completed. We have spent Rs 2,400 crore so far apart from the Rs 1,000 investment from caterers and fuel suppliers. Flight trials will start from January and the first passenger flight will fly out at 00:01 hrs on March 30,'' he said.

The work on the greenfield international airport, expected to handle 10.5 million passengers in the first year of operations, began on June two, 2005. The project was being promoted on a public-private partnership (PPP) with private consortium, including both foreign and Indian companies, holding 74 per cent stakes and Karnataka government, the remaining 24 per cent.

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