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Bangalore International Airport thread

774K views 4K replies 203 participants last post by  mailabode 
Marvellous

Iam all excited to see new BIAL coming up fast. Kudos to Mr.Albert Brunner and his team on their efforts in meeting the airport deadline on time. And for Bangaloreans it is a sweet gift in the form of a world class airport at Bangalore and no more cramps as there at HAL airport. Iam pretty sure that BIAL is on its way to become third major hub in India after Delhi and Mumbai.
BIAL pictures seem simply marvellous for any new airport.:)

As for HAL airport, it served a great purpose all these years to cater to the fast growing Bangalore traffic within its constraints. A big thank you to HAL airport. There are requests from different quarters to continue HAL airport on a low scale. BIAL, upon its discretion, may think to come forward magnanimously and donate a small pie of airline revenue to HAL in the form of low cost carrier operations. This is similar to that prevalent in USA cities like Houston Hobby/Dallas Lovefield for low cost carriers viz. Southwest airlines and Houston Intercontinental /Dallas-Fortworth International for major carriers viz. Lufthansa, Delta.

Wishing all the best for new BIAL in future.
:banana:

Best regards
Prakash
Bangalore.
 
Not so good news on the delayed opening of BIAL :nuts: We also need proper functioning ATC for safe travel. So we all expect to see BIAL takeoff on May 11, as announced by authorities.

Well, this additional time may be used for further improvements in the airport and road connectivity.


Meanwhile, on March 13, 2008 Civil Aviation Minister Mr. Praful Patel hinted that he will speak to the two private developers GMR consortium at Hyderabad and BIAL in Bangalore to thrash out a solution to keep HAL and Begumpet airports open. “We will see if we can find a middle path. We will talk to the developers to see if the existing airports can continue to function for scheduled commercial operations,” said Praful Patel, Civil Aviation Minister.

For further news, see link below http://www.moneycontrol.com/india/n...ts-may-continue-ops-praful-patel/18/33/330224


Now the million dollar question remains. Is May 11th going to see two airports for Bangalore? I would love that day as then I get a choice to fly from two airports in Bangalore:banana:
 
http://www.financialexpress.com/news/Govt-may-continue-ops-in-2-staterun-airports/285816

==============================================================

FE Home - Story

Govt may continue ops in 2 state-run airports
Reuters
Posted online: Tuesday , March 18, 2008 at 1307 hrs IST


New Delhi, March 18: India will consider allowing state-run airports in Bangalore and Hyderabad to continue operations along with the new private airports, the civil aviation minister said on Tuesday.

On March 12, airport workers across India went on strike to protest against the government decision to shut down the two airports to make way for new airports built by private developers. The strike was called off on March 13.

"The government can't go back on legal and contractual obligations...We will review all the positions in due course," Praful Patel said.

Patel, on March 12, told parliament that the government is obliged to close down all commercial civil aviation operations at the existing airports once the new airports are made operational to ensure their financial viability.

While Hyderabad International Airport Ltd is majority held by GMR Group, Bangalore International Airport Ltd is majority held by Siemens Projects.

Patel also said the government has asked the new airports not to charge user development fee initially from domestic passengers to begin recovery of their costs.

"User development fee can't be same for short distances as well as long distances...We will try to come to some solution for the benefit of all," he said.

The airlines and the passengers are protesting against UDF, which they say will make air travel costlier.

BIAL proposed a UDF of 675 rupees for departing domestic and 995 rupees for international passengers, Patel told parliament on March 11.

For Hyderabad, the government has approved 1,000 rupees as ad-hoc UDF on international departing passengers only, he said.

"Actual quantum of UDF for domestic and international passengers...would be fixed up only after the receipt of final audited project cost from them," Patel said.

Patel further said parliament will likely pass the bill to set up an independent economic regulator for airports.

"Once the standing comittee report comes....we can try to pass the bill for setting up Airport Economic Regulatory Authority in this session," he said.

Patel said he expected the report to come in the recess of the budget session.
 
Read what Air passengers to Bangalore say...

http://www.business-standard.com/common/news_article.php?leftnm=3&autono=317322



Air passengers don`t want HAL airport to die, finds Feedback survey
BS Reporter / Chennai/ Bangalore March 19, 2008


Poor connectivity to the new international airport near Devanahalli from the city has emerged as one of the strong reasons for demanding that the existing HAL airport be retained. A majority of the air passengers want the HAL airport to be kept open even if the new international airport opens on May 11, according to a survey.

Conducted between February 26 and March 1 by city-based Feedback Consulting to map the opinion of air passengers about the closure of the HAL airport, the survey reveals that 81.3 per cent of the total respondents (1,148) strongly agree that existing airport needs to be kept open since connectivity to the new airport is not yet in place.

Since the new airport is located at distance of 26 km from the city centre, air passengers need well over one hour during peak hours to reach it via the existing National Highway (Bangalore-Hyderabad). The government has planned a dedicated rail link to the new airport, which is expected to become operational only by 2011. Consequently, the demand for retaining the HAL airport is raging.

About 54 per cent of the respondents say even if penalties are involved in keeping the HAL airport open, the government should exercise the option. About 71.4 per cent of the respondents feel BIAL, HAL, Civil Aviation Ministry and the government should come together to find a way to operate both airports in the city.

Only 19.4 per cent of the respondents feel that the government should close the HAL airport as set out in the agreement, irrespective of any public inconvenience in the short term.

The business community feels that it will be severely impacted by the longer travel time. Air passengers, particularly from the Electronics City and Whitefield, which house most of the IT community, will need more than two hours to reach the new airport.

Feedback Consulting General Manager Chandramouli said that 77.8 per cent of the respondents feel longer travel time to the new airport will adversely affect the productivity of businesses in the city. Another 72.5 per cent feel it is desirable to keep existing infrastructure like HAL airport open to handle rising demand as Bangalore’s economy is growing rapidly.

At least 52.3 per cent of the respondents are not sure whether the new airport will have the capacity to meet the rising demand of air travellers and cargo traffic.
 
BIAL and HAL airport

HAL airport was never meant to be a commercial airport, it is exclusively meant for the aircrafts test and landing for HAL. In old days, Packet Aircraft or DC-3 by the military used to land. Gnats, HF-24 tests were conducted at the HAL airport. One of these crafts tested by Wing Commander Suranjan Das failed to lift of at the end of the runway and crashed somewhere near varthur lake. The current runways are clogged holding up test of LCA craft and others.

Commercial aviation of Indian Airlines a GOI org. was allowed into the mix and provided a revenue stream for the upkeep. However HAL was not meant to be an airport for mass commercial air traffic and it shows even today by the meagre facilities. Now wanting commercial option based on local people needs is highly untenable based on the original concept of dedicated runway for Aircraft testing. Either we move HAL to the outskirts of the city, which is an enormous costs and use the current HAL for say private jet operators (not commercial airlines) or we convert HAL's existing infra for the industrial - military testing which was its original intent.
Dear

BIAL is going to be the main airport in Bangalore in coming years and will handle majority of civilian air traffic. Does that mean HAL airport can be easily disposed off?

Yes, there are constraints in HAL airport as it is handling stunningly more passengers (around 13 million passengers 2007-08 as per DH article pasted below) than it is intended to. Please understand that HAL airport is not a cheaply setup temporary type terminal like there in some unknown islands to be replaced by BIAL but terminals and runways at HAL were upgraded constantly over the past years with Government pumping in crores of rupees. A few things about HAL airport.

- It is the fourth busiest airport in India.

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

- In the past decade, the airport has gone through a series of expansions and upgradations to keep pace with the growing civilian air traffic in the city.

- The airport runway can handle big aircrafts like B747s.

- There are separate check in sections for domestic and international departures, and separate sections for domestic and international arrivals. The airport has 2 aerobridges.

-HAL Airport is relatively close to the city centre (12 km). A taxi ride from the airport to the city centre, in peak hour traffic takes between 1/2 - 1 hour.

- And many more.

Now the question is , after all these investments in HAL airport for civilian operations, what is Government and HAL airport going to do with all these added facilities if forced to shut down? Is it that the Government can throw all those crores of investments in HAL as scrap?? For running test flights and private aircrafts, you may not need such big terminals and runway as there in HAL airport now. So, who will bear this huge loss by forcing shutdown on HAL airport?

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Please also look into this article published in Deccan Herald on March 9, 2008.

http://www.deccanherald.com/Content/Mar92008/editpage2008030856301.asp

HAL airport must be run for five years

By Tulsi Kesharwani



The option is to either face congestion at the new airport or avoid such congestion by using the capacity already available at the existing airport.


A new greenfield international airport at Bangalore is scheduled for opening later this month. Under the agreement between BIAL and the government of India the existing airport will be closed and all the traffic will be transferred to the new airport.

The new airport will have an annual capacity of about 10.3 million passengers including 1.6 international passengers and 8.7 million domestic passengers. The actual traffic at the existing airport from April to December 1997 was 9.93 million passengers including 1.52 million international and 8.41 million domestic. The growth in traffic during first nine months of 2007-08 was 33.7 per cent over the corresponding period of 2006-07, which was the highest recorded by any international airport in India. If the same growth rate is maintained from January to March 2008, the total traffic during 2007-08 will amount to 13.27 million passengers including 1.98 international and 11.29 domestic. The utilisation will be 124 per cent of the international part of the terminal and 130 per cent of the domestic part of the passenger terminal.

Thus, both the international and the domestic parts of the passenger terminal will face congestion on the day of opening the new airport. The congestion will increase as the traffic grows further. Additional capacity can be built but it will take a few years and till then the new airport will face increasing congestion.

The above described traffic situation raises a serious question whether it will be prudent to close the existing airport. For an airport policy maker and planner the answer should be no. It is appreciated that operating two airports in a city has problems of transfer traffic and some airlines duplicating the facilities and incurring additional costs. The options at Bangalore are either face congestion at the new airport or avoid such congestion by using the capacity already available at the existing airport without any additional investment. The situation at Bangalore is different from the proposed second airports at Delhi and Mumbai where additional investments are required on new airports. It may be mentioned that several cities in the world have two or more airports and there is no serious conflict in operating and managing them.

There can be several options for sharing the traffic between the two airports. The best option will be retaining the operation of low cost carriers at the existing airport. This option will create least problems. Another aspect to be considered is that with the opening of the new airport the low cost carriers and their users, especially for short haul routes, are threatened because of two reasons. The new airport at Bangalore is located at a distance of about 35 kms from the city. The travel to the new airport will take more than an hour and reduce the time advantage of air travel over surface modes of transport.

Moreover, the additional cost of travel from and to the airport and the proposed User Development Fee at the new airport will add another element of cost. It is possible some low cost carrier traffic, especially short distance traffic, may get diverted to surface mode of transport. On top of these factors, the recent reduction in tariffs for competing upper class rail travel and possibility of additional surcharges on air travel due to increasing fuel prices will add impetus for diversion of low cost carrier traffic to surface modes. Permitting low cost carriers to operate from the existing airport will mitigate some of the disadvantages, apart from providing immediate relief to the new airport.

The main hurdle in keeping the existing HAL airport operational after the opening of the new airport is the agreement signed between BIAL and the government which bars this possibility. There is reluctance on the part of BIAL to make any change in the agreement because of loss of traffic and revenues. It should be possible to overcome this hurdle by renegotiating the agreement and compensating BIAL for their revenue loss. Retaining low cost carriers at the existing airport will minimize the loss to BIAL as presently 80-seater aircraft do not pay any landing charges. The least that should be done in the present circumstances is to continue the existing airport along with the new one for the next five years or so till sufficient capacity is developed at the new site and surface modes of transport are improved.

The writer has worked as consultant to International Civil Aviation Organisation in over 30 countries and is presently Director (Aviation), Asian Institute of Transport Development, New Delhi.
 
BIAL going to be congested

That is the wrong perspective. It is not how much was spent in the past, but how much can be spent or done in the future that matters. How much can be done to expand HAL for operations 20-50 years infuture ? How much can be done for BIAL ? HAL can at best sustain very incremental additional capabilities. BIAL has far more potential. The fact that crores were spent on HAL is, if anything, testament to the fact that they took so long to get BIAL off the ground.

At some point the cost-benefit analysis tips the scales. The only reason BIAL still faces so many hurdles is its connectivity concerns and probably it not having been built with current traffic projections in mind (I am ignoring all the cosmetic and looks issues). But both can be addressed, via expediting the road/rail connectivity work, and accelerating Phase 2 expansion. HAL has no such cost-benefit potential. Money spent on it is lipstick smeared on a pig.

Ideally there ought not to have been any debate about keeping HAL open. BIAL was contracted under the assurance that HAL would be shut down. The time to oppose was before the contract was finalized, not today. I have no sympathy for those who still demand HAL handle commercial operations and cannibalize BIAL's market in the process. After all the talk of bridging India's infrastructure deficit, how do actions that just damage investor returns help ?
BS!! I guess you havenot read the DH article I pasted below my previous posting fully. It says that the number of air passengers now has exceeded the target at the time of signing the agreement and whether BIAL can handle 13 million passengers as against its capacity of only 10million passengers !!!!! :bash:

For heavens sake, read the report fully before shooting your tongue out!!!
what the report says is that BIAL constructed now is likely to be be congested right from beginning due to underestimated passenger traffic.It will take many years before BIAL can complete its second phase but by then traffic would have grown even bigger!:) So where is the "cannibalization" happening here?? And do you mean to say that we as air travellers have to live again with "congestion" at BIAL till then??:crazy2:
 
HAL airport

Suraj, I agree. Another point is that the so-called "crores" spent on HAL came of the backs of commercial passengers. High ATF tax, airport operation tax and so forth. Whatever was expended was money earned from commercial operations and HAL actually made money of this operation. Closure will only cut of their revenue stream, which was not initially envisioned. Clearly, HAL needs to get back to its core competence i.e. Aircraft development and test. There are enough projects in the pipeline for occupying HAL airport. Private jets can use HAL and so can the Neta traffic that swoops down into Bluru every so often. Hope they don't use BIAL and hold up ordinary folks. I believe HAL should shut down commercial airline traffic, it is too confusing to keep track of what lands where and the attendant back and forth to catch domestic vs international traffic.
Do you think private jets and Neta traffic can justify the investment of crores made in HAL airport? Would you do such an investment at an airport knowing that it will be used only for some once in a while private jets and non-paying Neta traffic? Comeon dumbo, HAL airport has been invested with crores of rupees by Government only and only for civilian operations. And the returns for that investment can only come by continuation of commercial operations. Any business man or firm including BIAL will have no problems understanding this. Government investment doesnot mean free ride for anybody.

Yes, there is a contract with BIAL signed some years back and nobody wants to intentionally violate it. Karnataka and any other government will strive to honour the agreement. But Now since it is clear that BIAL cannot handle 13 million passengers now, how can the agreement be enforced as such on HAL airport shut down? Who is going to take care of the extra 3 million passengers? Government should ask BIAL to happily keep the 10million passengers which it can handle (instead of whining about HAL) as it wanted during the agreement thereby keeping BIAL fully utilised. The extra 3 million passengers ( because of higher growth than expected) should remain with HAL airport.

Jai Hind.
 
Two airport cities

For those who quote Dallas Love Field as a counter example, please look up the Wright Amendment. DAL is severely restricted in terms of what kind of services airlines can offer, something Southwest has been fighting against for decades. Bangalore is by no means the first city to face this conundrum, and constraining BIAL's need or ability to expand for the future will not help anyone.
What about Houston Hobby? Southwest has many schedules from here.
Do you know that Houston Hobby(within city limits) was forcibly closed down (similar to the proposal for HAL airport shutdown) when Houston Bush Intercontinental opened (in city outskirts) in 1969. But in 1971, 2 years later, Hobby was re-opened to commercial aviation. Now there are two commercial airports in Houston. Bush intercontinental takes care of hub & spoke flights whereas Houston Hobby takes care of low fare airlines and a few short haul international ones. Incidentally, Houston Hobby is a major base for Southwest,a low fare airline.

Other examples are Oakland, Sanjose in vicinity of SFO interntaional at San Francisco; Baltimore airport in vicinity of Dulles international in Washington DC; La Guardia and New Jersey in vicinity of JFK airport at New york;
 
Houston Hobby is the only meaningful example. As you yourself admit, both Hobby and DAL faced restrictive operational rules. Even then, the US timeline was different, with late 70s deregulation ushering in widespread low-fare travel. Until then, even Southwest was a bit player.


Every proposal other than closing HAL now is doomed to failure and confusion. There's no way any proper split of traffic will be accomplished. It will inevitably leave Bangalore with two lame duck airports - one half dead (HAL) and the other half alive (BIAL). The proposal to keep HAL open emphasizes short term benefit at the cost of long term disaster.
Finally you admit that running two airports in a city is a fact, very much possible in India and without damaging revenues for any airport. In fact I have taken one of those flights running like shuttle services every half an hour between Dallas lovefield and Houston hobby ; I have seen people thronging to take these shuttle flights (first come first serve) and prefer even over freeways. Both the airports in Houston/Dallas are running successfully for decades till now.

Now tell me why are you sticking to the outdated stand that only one airport in Bangalore? I assume you are an airline flier and not an airport operator. What makes you think that HAL affects BIAL growth in long run when we have examples of Houston/Dallas?
 
Gosh you are completely clueless; SJC and SFO are a good 40 miles apart; the nearest comparison would be like Chennai and Pondicherry; different needs for different areas. People living in SFO dont even bother with SJC.
Please, No fights intended with you. I dont know about Chennai and pondicherry. It is very common for bay area people to take US domestic flights from either Oakland or SanJose whereas for internationals go for SFO. I dont know what you are talking about when you say people dont bother about SFO/SJC? 40 miles is just close to 45 minutes journey by road in USA but in Indian roads it may take upto 2 hours.
 
You didn't bother to read my post did you ? What else would explain such gross misunderstanding ? This has nothing to do with *two* airports, but replacing one with another. Both Love Field and Hobby were either drastically curtailed or shut down as a matter of policy in favour of the larger airports that replaced them. Neither of them even became a low-cost hub until over a decade after their being replaced by DFW and HOU.

It's hardly outdated. Its the current contractual agreement. It's your stance that is about rewriting the agreement. Oh just for your sake, let's say we keep HAL open, *but* with a Wright Amendment system, wherein HAL can only service airports within a ~250km radius. I think that would be perfect - it fits your desire to associate DAL/DFW with HAL/BIAL. Such a restriction will prevent HAL from servicing any lucrative long distance commercial route, including Chennai, thereby taking care of the need to not affect BIAL.
hmmmm... beating the same old drums again:eek:hno:

I have read your post fully before answering and still stand by my statements. Whereas your statement that Lovefield and Hobby are shut down is FALSE. Dallas Lovefield was never closed, as far as Iam aware of.

As Iam aware, Both Dallas Lovefield and Houston hobby are very much in operation now since decades and with expansion plans. Similarly both the newer airports Dallas-Fortworth Int'l and Houston Bush Int'l are also growing. This example has clearly expelled the myth that two airports cannot co-exist in any city.

Wright ammendment applied only to Dallas lovefield, as I understand and last I heard is that the US courts turned it down as anti-competition.

Houston hobby has multiple airlines operating from the airport and no restrictions on distance as such, please visit the website of South west airlines below for more details.

http://www.southwest.com

There are nonstop flights from Houston Hobby to many places like phoenix and even as far as Oakland in west coast more than 3hours away.

Let us keep aside the "sacred" agreement for a while. Why cannot HAL and BIAL operate together similar to Houston Hobby and Houston Bush Intercontinental?
 
Neither Love Field nor Hobby thrived until over a decade after DFW and HOU opened, when deregulation made low cost airlines more profitable. India does not have a clear distinction between low fare and full fare domestic travel. *Everyone* will claim low fare status. Exactly how do you intend to partition flights between HAL and BIAL ? Specifically, how do you intend to address the potential for litigation ?

Yes, the Wright Amendment has been now repealed, three and a half decades after it was enacted. Hobby never became an active low fare center until the 1980s, a decade and a half after HOU opened. BIAL on the other hand, has not even opened, and people want to keep HAL open and partition traffic. That is a recipe for chaos and stunted development.

Fine. Lets start by shutting down HAL now, for at least two years then. Agreed ? That's exactly what happened to Hobby.
First, let me tell you that Iam an airline flier and not an airline or airport operator. So please donot bring in litigations here. This is only a friendly forum for Bangaloreans,I guess. Iam here because I have been flying using HAL airport for decades, I have seen its limitations, I have seen its growth within its constraints and finally Iam looking forward to the grand BIAL opening in May.

I used to feel homely with HAL airport for domestic travel due to its proximity to many offices and city though I never liked the facilities in HAL for international travel. So, as an user Iam reluctant to give up the facilities at HAL airport for quick domestic return travels within a day and low fare journies wheras Iam all excited to use BIAL for domestic and international travel that I have more time to spare.

Regarding Hobby, as you rightly said at the time of its temporary forced closure, no low cost carriers were there. It got reopened 2 years later when LCCs came in. But in India there are already low fare airlines in operation ( travelling people know which ones they are). There is a reasonably good traffic by these low fare airlines from Bangalore. So, if you are closing down HAL airport, you are literally driving away these passengers who either want a days quick return trip or low fare travel and they are not going to use BIAL for sure. So, why you want to close down HAL and reopen again after 2 years knowingly that these passengers are not BIAL's customers and hence penalise them?
 
Whichever way and for whatever reason you(you = any of us) come up with for keeping HAL open (which i too did today), when you start examining the consequences of it you realise it does not work for it throws up new problems. The solution is to rather put heart and soul into maing the new airport workable. The City's public transport system should be given a review to build an integrated system of road and rail that makes travel to any part of the city simple- giving prime importance to implementing connectivity to BIAL in the shortest possible time. Meanwhile a special bus service such as the proposed fleed of hightech Volvos or whatever should be implemented on a separate lane that serves only public transport to and from the airport by widening the proposed four lane road and adding an extra lane in each direction(this could serve as a permanent entity for those preferring the bus). This lane would serve taxis, the Volvos and also other high speed airport buses with limited stops. With time the concept will gain popularity and spurn more & quality investment in this area and eventually cause more people to opt for public transport. Meanwhile the train works get completed in time to coincide with completetion of the second phase of the airport.
Mailbode, not really. Please go through my postings above and I have mentioned many cities where two airports function with clear partitioning of airlines and its traffic. What is needed is the will by Government and operators to see through the potential offered by airtraffic in a fast growing city like Bangalore. Please remember that Bangalore posted one of the highest air traffic growth at more than 30% this year compared to many airports in europe at less than 10% growth.


Already volvo buses are announced to BIAL from various parts of the city but as you rightly said what is needed is better road facilities to BIAL. A seperate lane for volvo buses is the RIGHT step to go if public transport is to become primary means of transport from city to BIAL. Otherwise, passengers will be forced to to use expensive taxis. I also think a dedicated bus station needs to be built near BIAL so that passengers can have option of using a bus shelter.

As for metro rail link, I guess may take years from past experience with Government projects unless somebody is there to constantly monitor and keep pushing the schedules.

One thing that comes to my mind is the government can request Railways to strengthen the sparely used Yelahanka Chikballapur line and extend the line from Devanahalli Railway station to a convenient location at airport terminal. This way dedicated MEMU trains can be thought of to run between Bangalore city and BIAL airport via Byapanahalli, Banaswadi, Yelahanka at every half an hour interval.
 
India does not have a clearcut low/full fare distinction. A partitioning scheme cannot work, because no airline will agree to be operate at BIAL if its competitor gets business through the advantage of being at HAL. Even an international-domestic partitioning will not work. HAL was not even built to handle current domestic traffic, much less domestic+international. Even if it were, BIAL will not accept such a deal.

/QUOTE]

You see in Dallas, airlines that choose the old lovefield airport cannot choose to operate from Dallas-Fortworth International airport. Airlines that choose to operate from Houston Hobby are not seen in Houston Bush Intercontinental and vice-versa. Similarly in Bangalore, Airlines that want to carry hub/spoke domestic traffic from international flights would go set up their base at BIAL and not at HAL airport. Whereas those few airlines wanting only to serve low fare & quick turnaround passengers will prefer to continue their counters at HAL and not allowed at BIAL. That is the end of it.

Thus, All international and major domestic airlines would setup their counters at BIAL only as they wouldnot want to loose the growing international hub/spoke traffic.
 
Blindly applying models from Dallas or wherever else makes little sense. There are zero hub and spoke airlines in India. All operations are point to point. Air India is the closest to having some hub/spoke operations, but Bangalore is not a hub and is unlikely to be one in even the medium term. I don't see what is in it for Kingfisher to give up HAL for BIAL if there are competitors present at HAL. People jump to give examples of cities with more than one airport. Why do you forget Hong Kong, or KL or Singapore - all cities that closed their old airports when they opened new ones?

Upholding the sanctity of contracts is critical to the success of a free economy. Why didn't this issue come up earlier, before the contract was signed. Now that it is signed, learn to live with it, especially since the contract did not violate any Indian laws. Pressure the Government to provide the connectivity to BIAL. That will be more productive and more likely to succeed than ranting and raving about HAL's closure. Once the concession period for BIAL is over, the old airport can be reopened if desired. Till then, tough luck. And if the Government succumbs to such ranting and raving, we can bid goodbye to future investments. No investor would ever again believe any contract signed by the Government (if the courts allow the contract to be overturned, that is).
ooh.. that was a long one from me since yesterday. Anyway I will try to wind up my postings by one or two on this subject and get onto my other work....

Dear Sridhar,
Fyi, Mr.Brunner has already indicated that he wants BIAL to be a regional hub in India unlike what you say.. I guess he is targetting BIAL to be the Southern India region hub to begin with.. I will be proud to see one day BIAL becoming the third hub in India after Mumbai and Delhi. With the kind of air traffic growth in Bangalore, am sure he will achieve what he said in the next few years. This is because after Delhi and Mumbai, Bangalore carries the highest air passenger traffic.

Air India already has new non stop flights from BIAL in pipeline, the one recently announced was a nonstop from Bangalore to San Francisco in the coming year. This means air india may be planning to make BIAL a hub in future. Jet airways have already begun international flights recently and Kingfisher international flights are in the pipeline. Many large international airlines are waiting to enter Bangalore through BIAL. All these will bring in huge increase of hub/spoke traffic - a kind of traffic, Bangalore has never witnessed before.

Singapore and Hongkong are island/small countries which means there is no domestic traffic worth its name by flights. Malaysia again is a small country compared to India or even just karnataka's size and again domestic traffic is lesser compared to India. Whereas both India and USA have huge domestic traffic of its own and hence my comparison of Dallas/Houston with Bangalore in India. Moreover Singapore, KL and Hong kong have very good road/rail connectivities from city to their airports;Bangalore unfortunately doesnot. So how can one compare these cities with Bangalore?

Whether the contract violates Indian laws or not, Iam not sure; let the Government and courts decide, if needed. One neednot be afraid of also. The same situations happened elsewhere as in Dallas in USA which is the No.1 free market economy in this world. Lovefield continuation never tarnished the image of Dallas as investor friendly. Many more investments came onto Dallas after Lovefield continued. But Iam sure Karnakata and India will always be investment friendly and will support BIAL growth by all means, more investors will keep coming due to the healthy competitive situations and growth potential offered.
 
Govt may keep old H'bad, B'lore airports open
Sindhu Bhattacharya/ DNA MONEY
Tuesday, 08 April , 2008, 08:40


The new Bangalore airport, which is scheduled to commence operations after May 10, has a traffic capacity of 9 million passengers against the current demand of 10.5 million annually.

Since capacity is short of demand, does it make a case for keeping the old Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd (HAL) airport in Bangalore open simultaneously?

Demands for keeping old airports operational have been made for Bangalore and Hyderabad, but the two situations are dissimilar. Unlike in Bangalore, the new airport at Hyderabad can handle projected traffic increase from the present seven million to 12 million, for the next five years.

The government is thinking of ways to keep the old airports open at both these locations. According to official sources, the government is well within its power to renegotiate the 25-year clause, which prohibits another airport from coming up till 2033 in both the cities.

This clause forms a part of the concession agreements signed by the government and the respective private developers (GMR-led consortium for Hyderabad and Siemens-led consortium for Bangalore).

Pointing out that in neither of the cases, the airport developers are losing revenue since there is traffic assurance, sources said, in case business prospects of the developer are hurt if the second airports are allowed to function, the government may think of awarding compensation.

"We are not renegotiating contracts with developers at present since we are awaiting court rulings on the public interest litigations, which are demanding that the old airports at both the cities be kept open. If the courts direct us, we will have no choice but to allow the old airports to continue commercial flights. Otherwise the government has the option of renegotiating contracts," sources said.


This thinking on a possible renegotiation of airport contracts comes just when a consolidated policy on airports is expected in a few weeks. Such a view is being aired, despite the government taking a contrarian view in the case of the National Capital Region.

In spite of the Delhi International Airport giving an assurance on capacity generation far outstripping demand till 2026, the government has given an in-principle approval for another international airport at Zevar, Greater Noida.


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Please refer news further at
http://sify.com/finance/fullstory.php?id=14639717
 
Wait a minute, BIAL estimate/projection and initial plan was for 9 million pax and recent newspaper reports also confirmed this. How come suddenly you say that BIAL can handle 12 million pax? Do you have any proof whether BIAL can handle 12 million pax without congestions?
 
Old Bangalore airport stays, rules High Court

Published on Wed, Apr 16, 2008 at 17:21
IBN Live


Bangalore: The old Bangalore airport must be retained and the business agreement according to which had to be shut down must be renegotiated, the Karnataka High Court ruled on Wednesday.

The court asked the state and Central governments, the Airports Authority of India to renegotiate the deal with the Bangalore International Airport Limited (BIAL).

The governments had signed a deal with BIAL that the existing HAL airport in the city would be shut once the new private airport becomes operational. The new airport, which is 40 km away from the city, is scheduled to become operational on May 11.

City civic groups have said roads to the new airport have not been built and the government should retain the HAL terminal. At least four public interest petitions were filed in the High Court against the closing the HAL airport.

The new airport is supposed to handle 10.1 million users by 2010. but HAL airport is already handling 10.5 million passengers.


Great News! At last the Karnataka high court has come to the rescue of common man. The governments had failed miserably to act in this aspect and now the court has upheld the Indian citizen's genuine right to choose an airport within his area.

Hope BIAL accepts the court verdict that Indian citizens have right of using HAL airport and refrain from wasting more money on further litigations.
 
Deccan Herald 18th Apr'08
Bangalore

The State assembly elections, which had threatened to play spoil sport with the inauguration of the Bengaluru International Airport (BIA), will have no bearings as it is to open on its scheduled date on May 11.

The Election Commission has given clearance to Ministry of Civil Aviation on Thursday to go ahead with the inauguration of the BIA on May 11.

“The Ministry has received clearance from the Election Commission to inaugurate the BIA on May 11, a day after the completion of the first phase of polling for the forthcoming assembly elections in Karnataka,” Joint Secretary, Ministry of Civil Aviation, K N Srivastava told Deccan Herald.

Source

Great news. We all look forward to BIAL opening on May 11. Hopefully this time it does not get postponed again due to any silly reasons.
 
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