BIAL for expansion; rejects second airport option

Bangalore, July 12: Outrightly rejecting the need for a second airport to the city after it is thrown open to air traffic, the Bangalore International Airport Limited (BIAL) is already planning expansion of the greenfield project within two years of operation.

Work on the fast coming up Airport taken up at a cost of Rs.1930 crore by a consortium of Zurich Airport and Singapore besides the Karnataka Government and the Airport Authority of India (AAI) is going on a brisk pace and nearly 77 per cent of the work had been completed.

''As planned the Airport will be open for traffic in April 2008, BIAL CEO Albert Brunner told newsmen at the site today.

Asked about talks of the fast expanding aviation growth in the city, Mr Brunner said that the new airport would be in a position to handle 2200 passengers during the peak hour and it would be able to handle more than 10 million passengers in a year.

''Looking at the growth of the sector in Bangalore, we are planning for taking up expansion in two years after the Airport was thrown open'' he said adding that the details for the expansion project was being looked at.

Justifying the concession agreement which wanted BIAL to be the only airport functional, resulting in the existing HAL airport closed to civil aviation business, he said that the new airport would be able to cater to the growing requirement. ''For the next 20 to 25 years, there will not be any requirement for a second airport'' he said adding that such a necessity could arise if the air traffic crossed 50 million a year.

He said that BIAL would take up work on the second runway in 2013-14. The first runway could handle up to 17 20 million passengers, he added. In fact one airport in England was handling a record 26 million passengers a year, he said.

Mr Brunner said work on the project was on schedule and nearly 77 per cent of the work had been completed. By December end 98 per cent of the work would be completed so that trial run could start in January. In fact trial run for various other facilities would start from October itself, he added. Referring to certain objections raised by the Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel. He said that all the issues have been taken care of. As requested by the Civil Aviation Ministry in its letter, BIAL would be providing a canopy in the front of the terminal building.

It was clarified that the terminal building had a wonderful drainage system that would not lead to flooding of the terminal during rains. In fact the canopy was provided in the original design, but was cut to avoid cost escalation. Mr Patel who visited the site last week was satisfied with the work, he claimed.

He said BIAL had completed the Airport Readiness Plan (ARP), that ensured that all primary and secondary core process in an airport were set up and all agencies involved in performance of these processes were established, trained and tested.

He said the BIAL was close to complete the manual for Security, Emergency, Maintenance and Aerodrome. The Safety Management Systems manual has been completed and submitted to Directorate General of Civil Aviation for approval. Based on the schedule the licensing process, which involved certification of the above manuals by DGCA and Bureau of Civil Aviation Security and Audits of aerodrome facilities by DGCA would begin at the end of September 2007.

He said BIAL had also completed the selection of all concessionaires, including Aviation Fuel Facility, ground handling, cargo facility, flight catering, food and beverage operations, retail and duty free, airport hotel and into plane fueling service.

The last concessionaires to come on board were for the into plane facilities which had been provided to BPCL STARS and IndianOil-Skytanking.

The combined investment for into plane facilities would be around Rs.11 crore and duration of the contract was for ten years.

The concessionaires would get the access to fuel the aircraft which land at the airport directly from their dispensers by connecting it to the hydrant system.

UNI