New airport will have 30 bays

The country's first greenfield private sector owned and operated airport, the Bangalore International Airport, which is scheduled to start operations from April 2008. It will have 30 aircraft stands to begin with. Subsequently, the number of aircraft stands will be enhanced to 40.

Bangalore International Airport Ltd (BIAL) chief executive officer Albert Brunner, who gave an update on the construction of the airport, told reporters here on Tuesday that the projected passenger traffic at the time of commencement of the airport operations is expected to be 6.8 million.

"By 2010, it is estimated that the passenger traffic will go up to 8 million. This is because of the growing economy, which is fuelling the growth of the aviation industry.

The new international airport has to be designed to handle the growing traffic," he added.

The peak hour flight traffic at the airport is expected to be around 27 per hour by 2010. "We are well on course and expect to complete the first phase in the next 30 months. We are determined to commence the operations by April 2008," Brunner stated.

At present, work on the terminal building, air traffic control technical block, runway, apron, taxiway and main access road is in full swing. Also, work on aircraft rescue and fire fighting building, power house building, maintenance building and erection of boundary wall is being carried out, he explained.

The BIAL is also monitoring the manufacturing of the airfield lighting system, passenger boarding bridges, equipment for baggage handling, inline hold baggage screen, x-ray, public address system, illumination and uninterrupted power supply equipment and diesel generator, the CEO stated.

The Rs 1,930 crore project is being executed by the BIAL, a company formed to design, build, own and operate the airport.

The equity holders include Karnataka State Investment and Industrial Development Corporation (13 per cent), Airports Authority of India (13 per cent), Siemens Projects Ventures (40 per cent), Larsen and Toubro (17 per cent) and Unique Zurich Airport (17 per cent).