New International Airport will open by the end of this month -Times of India, May 12, 2008
Amid indications that no civilian flights will be allowed at Bangalore's HAL airport, government on Monday said the new international airport will open by the end of this month and operator's licence will be issued to it in the next 2-3 days.
This emerged after a meeting convened by the Civil Aviation Ministry in which top officials of the Bangalore International Airport (BIAL) as well as those from the Karnataka government participated.
The meeting came in the backdrop of a letter being shot off by Parliamentary Standing Committee Chairman Sitaram Yechury to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh demanding that the existing HAL airport be kept open for small aircraft operations, as was the case in major cities like Dallas, Houston and Newark.
Announcing that the new airport would start functioning by "this month-end", Civil Aviation Secretary Ashok Chawla said BIAL was "not agreeable to keep the existing airport open" as this was not in the contract.
To a pointed question whether the existing airport operated by the Indian Air Force and Hindustan Aeronautics would be closed down for civilian operations, he said: "I suppose that is how it is working out."
However, Chawla said talks were on with various stakeholders, including the airlines now operating at the HAL airport, on several options as to how it can be kept operational for civilian air traffic.
On May 5, the Supreme Court had directed the Centre to consider a citizen group's demand to keep the existing airport operational, given apprehensions on accessing the new airport located 40 kms away from the city.
As per the government's contract with BIAL the existing airport should be shut down once the new one start operation.
No Longer May Be, But May 11 - Bangalore Mirrior, April 10 2008
Civil Aviation ministry has sought clearance from the Election Commission and given BIAL the go-ahead; inauguration will be without any fanfare, if permitted
May 11 it is, in spite of elections looming large. The Bangalore International Air-Practical purposes, will be inaugurated and operational from may 11. The ministry of civil Aviation has written to the Election Commission of India seeking permission to start operations at the airport in view of the election notification, and is awaiting the clearance.
A final decision will however be taken after the full commission sits to examine the request in the next couple of days. Election Commissioner S Y Quraishi told Bangalore Mirror “normally we don’t stop ongoing activities. We only intervene if any political party gets undue advantage”. After hiccupping for over a month-and-a-half, the Ministry of civil aviation has flashed the green signal to Bangalore International Airport Limited (BIAL) to start operations.
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Pilots give it 10/10 - The Hindu, Mar 08 2008
It’s a thumbs-up for the BIA from the cockpit crew. The pilots of both Deccan and Kingfisher Airlines have given a ten on ten to BIAL’s landing infrastructure.
“The operating surface of the runway was smooth and its gripping power on the aircraft tyres was great,” said Capt D D Gandhi, who piloted the Kingfisher aircraft from Mumbai to Bangalore.
He said the runway has a good number of high speed exit points to the apron, built with a wide turning radius, allowing aircrafts to exit the runway quickly. “This will definitely bring down delays that are caused due to aircraft taxiing to and from the runway,” he said.
In the recent past, there have been several instances of close shaves between aircraft landing and taking-off. The base errors in all such instances have been the delayed take-offs or delays in taxiing off the run-way.
Capt Praatap Deshpande, who piloted the Deccan flight from HAL air-port to the new airport, said the approach to the runway at the new air-port is clear with no obstructions in the way. On a clear day, one would not require help of the instrument landing system (ILS) to land the plane, he said. In fact, deshpande did not use the ILS system on Friday.
He said the runway had an advantage over the HAL runway as the ILS system has been placed on either side of the runway, making it easy to be on an autopilot approach from either side. HAL’s runway has an ILS system in place only for approach from one side.
“Currently, an ILS CAT-I system is in place at the new airport. But going forward, BIAL will have to upgrade it to an ILS CAT-II system,” said Gandhi.
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Trial runs at new international airport from January 15 - The Hindu, Jan 05 2008
BANGALORE: Basic trials will begin on January 15 at the new Bangalore International Airport. Designated Airport Readiness Experts (AREXs) are testing basic processes at the greenfield airport, a release from Bangalore International Airport Limited here on Thursday said.During the trial phases, facilities, procedures, systems and trained staff will be tested. The airport rescue and fire fighting team has reached a high degree of airport readiness and will participate in the basic trials. The four heavy duty crash fire tenders have arrived at the project site. A number of “Train the trainer programmes” has been completed and trainers are preparing their training sessions for airport-owned equipment and systems for the various trial phases. Facilities are operational, information is specified, systems are available and human resources have been employed and trained.
CISF will patrol inside the airport while police will keep a vigil on the periphery - The Hindu, Jan 08, 2008
Police brace up for security at Devanahalli airport. Three new police stations and a new division proposed. No right turn on Bellary Road from High Grounds. Bangalore Police Commissioner Neelam Achutha Rao told The Hindu that to ensure better security and traffic management, Devanahalli and some of its surrounding areas that were now part of the Bangalore Rural district, would soon be brought under the jurisdiction of the city police. As the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) took care of the internal security of the airport, the police would provide peripheral security, he said.
Manmohan may inaugurate airport at Devanahalli - The Hindu, Dec 08, 2007
Bangalore: The long-awaited international airport at Devanahalli is on schedule and will be ready by March 31 next year. Stating this at a press conference after a Cabinet meeting, Governor Rameshwar Thakur said that he was requesting Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to inaugurate the airport.Accompanied by his advisers, S. Krishna Kumar, P.P. Prabhu and P.K.H. Tharakan, the Governor said the development of infrastructure for the airport, including connectivity from the city, was in full swing. All steps were being taken to meet the deadline. Mr. Kumar said that the executive committee also discussed a proposal to build a high speed elevated direct rail link from the BRV Parade Grounds on Mahatma Gandhi Road to the airport. The passengers could directly check-in and reach the airport in 25 minutes. The rail link could be built using the space on the road median.
Passenger traffic grows 35% at Bangalore airport - Business Line, Dec 29, 2007
Bangalore: Mr Narinder Kaushal, Airport Director, Airports Authority of India, Bangalore Airport, said that though Chennai recorded a higher growth in the number of passengers during the year, Bangalore still sees the highest passenger traffic after Delhi and Mumbai and is currently handling traffic of 10.3 million passengers. “The airport records 310 aircraft movements per day and we are trying to restrict new movements into the airport now,” he said. In 2006-07, HAL Airport recorded passenger traffic movement of 8.2 million.
Dedicated bus lane for new airport - The Times of India, 20 Dec 2007
Bangalore: Bangalore's first dedicated bus lane will be laid to exclusively ferry airport passengers and the BMTC is deploying 40 A/C buses for this purpose. The dedicated bus lane is meant to ensure quick travel time on brand-new low-fare Volvos and also to avoid breakdowns."The world over, Volvos driving in bus lanes have a 0.001% breakdown rate and this will be the case here too. We have also recommended that new BMTC buses be used for the low-fare sector," Sreehari told The Times of India.
Airport rail link notified - The Hindu, Dec 28 2007
BANGALORE: The State Government has notified the high speed rail link to international airport at Devanahalli and has authorised the Delhi Metro Railway Corporation (DMRC), the consultant of the project, to finalise detailed project report (DPR).
BIAL plans rail link between Devanahalli airport and city - The Hindu, May 21 2006
Bangalore: The Bangalore International Airport Ltd. (BIAL) is planning to link the international airport at Devanahalli with Bangalore city by rail, its chief executive officer Albert Brunner has said."We have planned a rail link access to the new international airport. BIAL has submitted a proposal to the State Government in this regard and it is under their consideration," Mr. Brunner stated.
BIAL and SITA to introduce first ever passenger- baggage reconciliation system in India - SITA, Nov 28 2007
Bangalore/Geneva: The first-ever integrated passenger-baggage reconciliation system to go live at an Indian airport will be deployed by SITA in time for the March 2008 opening of the new green field airport project in Bangalore, India’s “Silicon Valley”.
Marcel Hungerbuehler, COO-BIAL, said: “Given our location in the home of India’s formidable IT industry, it is entirely appropriate that this world class airport should take advantage of the latest technology which SITA is providing to ensure an operationally efficient, secure and passenger-friendly airport.” The new Bangalore International Airport is expected to be operational on March 30, 2008 and will handle an estimated 10 million passengers in the first year of operation.
Bangalore international airport launch set for March 30, 2008 - The Hindu, Oct 23, 2007
Bangalore: Just after the midnight of that day, Bangalore’s all domestic and international flights will land at or take off from Devanahalli, 30 km away, instead of the existing HAL airport.“Now is a good time to start informing everybody about the new airport,” said the spokeswoman for Bangalore International Airport Ltd, the five-promoter special vehicle that is building the Rs 1,930-crore greenfield airport. It would mean an airport constructed from scratch in record 32 months and which would start off with handling 9-10 million passengers annually; some 20 airlines are likely to touch down here.
Manuals Ready! - Business Line, Oct 23, 2007
Bangalore: Nine manuals — pertaining to operations, safety, security, maintenance, emergency — and the airport readiness plan have been drafted and submitted to the Director-General of Civil Aviation. Approval of them will get BIAL the licence to operate an airport.
Bangalore: LSG Sky Chefs has been selected as one of two strategic partners providing Flight Catering Services at the new Bangalore International Airport after an extensive technical and financial evaluation process. The agreement, which covers a period of 15 years, was signed today.LSG Sky Chefs is the world's largest provider of airline catering and in-flight solutions. LSG Sky Chefs caters 270 airlines from some 190 customer service centers in 49 countries and produces around 369 million airline meals a year. In 2005, the companies belonging to LSG Sky Chefs Group achieved consolidated revenues of 2.2 billion EUR.
