Areas of turbulence
The Airport Authority Employees Union has already raised protests over the plan to close the existing airport as per the concession agreement and have threatened a crippling strike soon. Besides, the Parliamentary Standing committee on Transport, Tourism & Culture has thrown its weight behind the unions recommending that the existing airport be kept opened and the deal with the concessionaire be renegotiated.
With all round criticism on the proposal to impose a User Development Fee (UDF) for additional facilities at the airport, GMR has given in finally agreeing to charge only international passengers with a UDF of 25$ each.

“Not charging UDF on domestic passengers will have an impact. Break even for the project will therefore be pushed behind a little further due to this,’’ says GMR Group’s airport Chairman Kiran Kumar Grandhi.
The new airport, built some 25 km off the main city, is still not as accessible as it was planned to be. It takes nearly 75 minutes from near the existing airport to the new one. “We have our hopes pinned on the 11-km long expressway which is not yet ready. That will reduce travel time between the city and the airport to 30 minutes or so,” Grandhi adds.

Bengaluru International Airport
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WHEN frequent flyers compare notes on favourite airport experiences, names like Changi, Frankfurt and Heathrow crop up repeatedly. References to Indian airports like Bangalore’s long-standing HAL Airport are often greeted with mutters about “glorified bus stands”.
But the new international airport in Bangalore, modelled on the Zurich Airport in Switzerland and christened the Bengaluru International Airport, promises to make the Indian airport experience truly international when it opens for flights on March 30.
The new airport project to be built under a public-private partnership and will replace the HAL airport as the service point for all commercial flights in and out of Bangalore.
In keeping with the Swiss-German identity of two major private investors in the Rs 2,470 crore project—Unique Zurich Airport and Siemens Project Ventures—the Bengaluru International Airport is a modern airport that is less swank and more functional.
The terminal building of the new airport with its clean-cut lines and roomy feel promises passengers swing door transition between domestic and international flights—both terminals are located under one roof. The commercial airport will also be among the first in the country to provide hotel facilities within walking distance of the terminal building.
Bangalore International Airport Ltd, the public-private company that built the new airport, describes it as ‘‘an airport that stands for the new modern and international India, proud of its culture and history, but part of the global economy’’.
BIAL has chosen the Oberoi Group to operate an international hotel under the Trident Hilton brand at the airport. ‘‘This truly will be the first airport hotel in India within walking distance of the terminal building,’’ say BIAL officials. A shopping mall, tax-free shops and food courts are other experiences on offer.
While the Civil Aviation Ministry has, through the construction phase, criticised the ‘‘factory like feel”, ‘‘clinical’’ and ‘‘rectilinear’’ nature of the new airport, officials of the Karnataka Government have found a close resemblance to the Zurich Airport.
Much of the greyness seen in the airport during a Civil Aviation Ministry inspection in June 2007 has been toned down on the advice of the ministry.
BIAL began construction for project located on 3,900 acres in north Bangalore, 37 km from the city’s centre, on July 2, 2005 and has taken 33 months to complete it.
The shareholders agreement on the project was signed in January 2002. Financial closure was achieved in June 2005.
Since the ride from Bangalore to the new airport is not smooth yet, there are many demands for retaining Bangalore’s existing HAL airport, which is the fourth largest in the country.
BIAL and state government officials say infrastructure for smooth access to the new airport will be in place by the time the airport officially opens on March 30. “When infrastructure is in place, the commute between the new airport and Bangalore will ideally take about one hour or less. It takes nearly 90 minutes to get to the existing airport from the heart of Bangalore at present,’’ says a senior state government official attached to the new airport project.
The new airport, built to handle 11 million passengers annually, can accommodate movement of 30 aircraft (including landing and take-off) per hour. When the airport opens, the aircraft movement is expected to be 440 in 24 hours. The airport can be scaled up to service approximately 50 million passengers a year, say BIAL officials.

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