Bangalore Intl Airport right on track or not?

Bangalore, Mar 11: The civil aviation ministry has put off the inauguration of Bangalore International Airport. According to reports, the inauguration on March 28 as scheduled can not take place as the connectivity to the airport is not yet ready.

As per the current plans, the Bangalore International Airport is to be inaugurated by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on March 28 and the commercial operations are to begin on March 30. The officials expressed on Monday meeting that AAI might need more time to complete the installation of the Air Traffic Control equipment and training of air traffic controllers to handle the systems.

Refuting media reports that the launch of commercial operations at the greenfield Bengaluru International Airport is likely to be postponed, BIAL today clarified that there was no change in the programme and the operations will begin on March 30, as scheduled earlier.

BIAL CEO Albert Brunner said that the company had demonstrated airport readiness with the successful flight trials conducted on March seven.

"During the trials, BIAL had committed to deliver the new international airport to the city on March 30, while the inauguration is scheduled for March 28. We have not received any information from Civil Aviation ministry validating newspaper reports," he said in a release.

The Rs 2270-crore BIAL, spread over 4000 acres, is being commissioned under Build, Own and Operate scheme. Promoters consisting of Siemens Project ventures, Unique Zurich Airports, L and T and others would hold a 74 per cent stake, while the remaining is held by Karnataka and Union governments.

The airport would have the capacity to handle eleven million passengers in its first year of operation. The airport was designed to handle a future passenger capacity of up to 50 million per annum.

UNI