State Govt Says Hal Airport May Render New Project Unviable

The Karnataka government has told the Union cabinet that once the new Bangalore international airport is set up, the existing HAL airport should be abandoned.

The entire project to set up the new airport would be rendered unviable and be a non-starter if the HAL airport is allowed to operate, said the state government in a letter that contains one of its strongest reactions yet to the ongoing battle over the setting up of the Rs 1,400 crore international airport project.

Civil aviation minister C M Ibrahim has, on his part, in a recent statement said that airlines should be allowed the choice of landing in either of the two airports.

However, consequently, the Tata-led consortium that has signed a memorandum of understanding with the state government to set up the new airport, rejected any such move and said that it would render the entire project economically unviable.

The state government was initially reluctant to react over Ibrahims statement as the minister belongs to the Janata Dal party that runs the state, sources said. But, it has now hardened its stand and fully backed the consortium.

The Karnataka government is understood to have stated that the HAL airport was in no way suitable for flight operations as it did not have the capacity to take on additional flights due to its location in the middle of the city and was environmentally unviable.

The letter to the Union cabinet states that there was no space left for expansion on any side of the airport as all the sides were covered with HAL aircraft manufacturing facilities, research centres, housing apartments, unregulated buildings and a lake, said state government sources.

The state government stated that the entire project hinged on the credible traffic revenue it would generate. In case the operations at HAL airport were allowed to continue even after the new international airport comes up, revenue from traffic would be minimal.

Apart from Ibrahim, the Union defence ministry has also pitched in on behalf of HAL even as the proposed international airport has run into several roadblocks and been kept in abeyance for the last two years.

Even though the state government signed an MoU with the consortium to undertake the project on a build-own-operate basis, the civil aviation ministry objected to such a route. However, the issues were later sorted out.

The Tata-led consortium consists of Tata Industries Ltd, Raytheon, the Changi airport authority, the Changi airport design centre and other Singapore construction groups.