Military flights hit by commercial traffic at HAL airport

Bangalore, Apr 28 (UNI) Choked by the increase in civilian aircraft traffic at the Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL)-owned city airport, its very purpose of carrying out military flying operations has been hit.

Official sources said with the airport currently operating more than double its capacity, the HAL authorities were finding it difficult to carry on their work, be it routine sorties or testing prototypes of transport, civilian and military aircraft, designed and developed by defence establishments.

Since a time frame could not be set for military flying activities as it involved a whole range of preparations, the HAL was put to inconvenience as every two minutes, an aircraft was either taking off or landing at the airport during peak hours.

The airport was built in the 1940s to supplement military operations of the allied forces during the World War-II.

The airport, which had only one runway, was recarpeted few years ago to handle about 3.5 million passengers per year. However, as present it was handling over 6.5 million passengers, the sources pointed out.

As a first step towards easing the situation, the HAL and Airports Authority of India (AAI) have initiated measures to enhance the airport's capabilities. Eight new parking bays were being built in front of the international/domestic apron and western end of the aerodrome as a part of the Rs 50 crore improvement project, taking the total number of bays to 27.

The Air Traffic Control was also getting a facelift with the installation of state-of-the-art communication equipment, including Airport Survelliance Radar, Monopulse Secondary Survelliance Radar and Radar Data Processing System. The equipment were tailor-made by reputed international agencies to suit the stipulations set by the HAL and AAI.

The sources said with the improvement works nearing completion, the pressure on the airport was expected to be eased considerably.

Moreover, once the international airport coming up at Devanahalli, near here, is completed, all commercial flight operations would be shifted there, allowing HAL to dedicate its airport solely for defence purposes.

On the recent letter dashed off by HAL Managing Director A K Saxena to various commercial flight operators urging them not to add any more flights as it would only further worsen the situation, the sources said it was only a wake-up call and the situation was definitely not out of control.

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