Bengaluru airport T2 phase-1 by 2021, will handle 20 mn more flyers

KIAL clocks 25 per cent growth in passenger traffic to 18.1 million in 2015.BS ReporterBengaluru, January 19:

Bangalore International Airport Ltd (BIAL), the company that runs the international airport in India's technology hub said it will begin building a second runway and terminal in 2016 and expects to complete its first phase to handle 20 million additional passengers by 2021.

The second terminal (T2) would be constructed over two phases to handle 35 million passengers a year, a BIAL statement said. The T1 and T2 combined could potentially handle 55 million passengers. The cost of the project was not disclosed.

GVK group owned BIAL has commissioned US architectural firm Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM) to design the terminal 2 (T2). It will also expand the terminal 1 to accomodate growth till the first phase of the second terminal is completed.

In 2015, the airport handled 18.1 million passengers, a growth of 25.2 per cent over the previous year. With this, KIAL also gets into the medium sized airport cateogry (15-25 million) in seven years and becomes the country's third largest airport after Delhi and Mumbai.

Named after Bengaluru's founder, the Kempegowda International Airport (KIAL), saw the market expanding and complimented by an increase in liesure travellers to the city. It has equal passenger traffic for both business and liesure, which clocks around 50,500 passengers a day. The busiest Domestic routes from KIAB are Delhi, Mumbai and Pune

"Passenger traffic remained resilient in the face of global uncertainties and we were able to maintain the expected growth range forecast for the year. We have grown not only in terms of traffic and airline partnerships, but also in our relentless focus on creating an international airport experience for our passengers," said G V Sanjay Reddy, managing director of BIAL in a statement. "This is a testimony that KIAB is an airport of choice for domestic and international travelers, and that we are closer to our long-term goals of becoming a gateway to the Southern region."

GVK group also runs the Mumbai airport.

Domestic passenger traffic grew 27.4 per cent with new airlines and routes being added in the year. International traffic grew 15.8 per cent over last year. The airport sees average of 404 air traffic movements (ATMs) a day, the statement said.

The airport's cargo traffic grew a modest 5.4 per cent to handle 287,198 metric tonnes in 2015.

The construction of the second runway that will begin in 2016 and will include the development of a 4000 m x 60 m new south parallel runway (NSPR) for Code F type of aircrafts, full parallel taxiway, two cross field taxiways connecting the new runway to the existing north runway, T2 apron and enhancement to the existing north runway. The second runway development will involve massive earth balance works and is scheduled to start shortly. This will be followed by the main airfield development which include pavement works, CAT III B airfield lighting, signage, drainage, fuel hydrants and associated works, the statement said.