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Madhumathi D.S.

`There is a good potential for direct flights to the US'

Bangalore May 20 Even as airports across the globe are in a churn over the prospect of landing an Airbus A380, Bangalore's upcoming international airport at Devanahalli says it is game and set to receive the superjumbo — albeit occasionally.

The Rs 1,940-crore Bangalore International Airport (BIA), speeding towards completion, is slated to start operations from April 2, 2008. Once it is ready, the A380, the world's largest aircraft that has sent the aviation industry into a tizzy, will be able to land there, according to Mr Albert Brunner, CEO of the airport SPV, Bangalore International Airport Ltd.

Code F

"If the A380 comes once in a while, it can land in our airport," Mr Brunner told Business Line. Emirates, Singapore Airlines and Lufthansa that touch down on Bangalore have ordered A380s; and should they fly these planes down the years, BIA can handle them, but not if they come in big numbers or too often, according to him.

The BIA design is based on Code F (the international tag for an airport's suitability to handle the A380); however, its current 45-m runway is built as per Code E for the Boeing 747.

Technically, any airport built for the 747 can also take in the A380. Within the country, only Delhi, Mumbai (which have received the A380) and Kochi are said to currently meet the standard, while the new Bangalore and Hyderabad airports are also at it.

DREAM MIX

Amidst the IT industry's growing demand for direct US flights from Bangalore, BIA is also watching out for long haul possibilities from Jet Airways and Kingfisher Airlines. Kingfisher is the lone Indian airline to have ordered the A380s. Whether one of these would be from Bangalore is anyone's guess.

"We are in touch with Mr Vijay Mallya and he has said he would like to fly non-stop from [his home city] Bangalore to the US and this is something unique. No other airline has offered anything like that so far," Mr Brunner said. "In the long term, I expect a good potential for direct flights to the US because of the huge traffic."

While the world's first A380 will go to Singapore Airlines later this year, Kingfisher's planes may not come before 2011. If this should fly from Bangalore, "By that time, BIA's second runway will be built according to Code F, so we should be able to handle it."

Superjumbo

As for when the second runway would be taken up, Mr Brunner said, "We haven't decided yet. Only four years ago, we thought we should need it in 2020. Now, we may be needing it by 2013-14."

Nearly a dozen international airlines have booked the superjumbo for long hauls from the Asia-Pacific region to Europe and the US. As for the airports, around 40 of them worldwide are reportedly mulling spends totalling $8 billion by 2015 to modify taxiway, apron and other infrastructure for the A380.

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New Bangalore airport is game for an A380 landing

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