B'lore airport opening delayed by 24 hrs

"The central government hereby notifies that the Bangalore International Airport at Devanahalli would be commissioned w.e.f. 00.01 hours of May 24 instead of w.e.f. 00.01 hours of May 23 as notified earlier," the notification read.

The notification follows the Election Commission's suggestion that the airport be opened after the completion of the voting for the Assembly polls in Karnataka. However, aviation circles attributed the postponement to non-compliance of several key operational issues by BIAL, including lack of clarity over sharing air space between BIAL and the Indian Air Force (IAF) air base at Yelahanka, non-completion of air traffic equipment calibration and failure to disseminate information to the international airliners.

Another reason, sources said, could be the case that is coming up for hearing in the Karnataka High Court on Thursday over keeping the old airport in the city open.

Reacting to the sudden decision of the government, BIAL CEO Albert Brunner said: "We are taken by surprise. In fact, we have just closed a press conference communicating our preparedness for tomorrow. However, there is nothing we can do at this point. All our efforts are now towards minimizing passenger and airline inconvenience owing to this postponement."

"We had no clue about the decision and were preparing for the closure of the old airport in the city. Now, we will have to issue a notification to our staff as well as airlines about the fact that flights will take-off and land from the old airport instead of the new one on May 23," said an Airports Authority of India (AAI) official in Bangalore.

"This sudden change will cause a lot of discomfort to passengers," said a low-cost carrier executive.