The Hindu Business Line : Bengaluru airport begins test flights

Trial run begins: A Kingfisher Airlines passenger aircraft Airbus A320 from Mumbai landing during the first passenger Flight Trial at the Bengaluru International Airport, Devanahalli, in Bangalore on Friday. The new airport is expected to be opened for commercial operations on March 30. – K. Murali Kumar

Our Bureau

Bangalore, March 7 The trial flight to and from the new Bengaluru International Airport on Friday probably could not have been more symbolic than this. A highly turbulent 15-minute trip each way on Friday from the present HAL airport to the new location at Devanahalli, 30 km up north, seemed to spell out a painful changing order for Bangalore’s air traveller.

The greenfield airport launched flight trials to check its operational readiness ahead of its official opening on March 30. The tests come amidst the rather late murmurs and a public litigation about the trebled distance to the airport, traffic congestion along the route and costlier departures by way of the user development fee that the airport company will charge.

A Kingfisher Airbus A320 from Mumbai landed around 10 am, followed by its Bangalore sibling Deccan’s Airbus-A320 from the city airport around 11 a.m. to do the inaugural honours.

An IAF aircraft from the Yelahanka Air Base nearby also flew in to try out the integrated air space management: the IASM here is shared among BIAL, HAL, IAF and Airports Authority of India.

The Prime Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh, is expected to declare it open on March 28.

“This is an overwhelming moment for all of us,” said Mr Albert Brunner, CEO of Bangalore International Airport Ltd (BIAL). “We have effectively demonstrated our readiness to handle a real-life airport situation for both domestic and international flights. We are now confident that we will present Bangalore with a first class airport that will make its citizens proud.”

Close to 400 guests, officials, airline executives and media persons thronged the new airport and terminal until afternoon. “The trials will continue well into the month. Performance is being measured carefully and corrective action will be taken accordingly,” BIAL said. The airport company began testing the systems in January under four groups: basic, advanced, integrated and fall-back/emergency trials.

Project development

BIAL is expected to round off the first year (2008-09) with 11 million passengers and see profits after five years, Mr Brunner said. It is expected to take up to 50 million passengers with a second runway and further expansion.

BIAL began the construction of the project on July 2, 2005. The cost, initially started at Rs 1,130 crore, has now touched Rs 2,470 crore, including a 35 per cent expansion-cum-redesign taken up midway through the 33-month construction and BIAL’s taking up of an interchange from the national highway into the airport.

The majority promoter consortium — Siemens Project Ventures, Unique Zurich Airport, L&T (40:17:17) — besides AAI and the State-owned KSIIDC (13:13) are partners in the project.

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