The Hindu Business Line : No scope for 2 airports: BIAL

Bangalore, March 7 Airport company BIAL has maintained its stand about having a single airport in Bangalore and closure of the existing airport when the new one at Devanahalli opens on March 30.

On Friday, when the airport did its full rehearsal with half-dozen test flight landings and take-offs, the BIAL Chief Executive Officer, Mr Albert Brunner, told presspersons, “We simply don’t yet have the (traffic) volume for two airports. The city can have the second airport once this is saturated” after a couple of decades.

Mr Brunner also said there could be no “zero option” on the user development fee; the fee (which is in addition to the present passenger service fee) should be viewed just as paying toll on highways, he said. BIAL plans to levy Rs 655 on domestic fliers and Rs 955 on international travellers and has offered a 50 per cent discount on them until May 31.

User fee waiver

The Centre has suggested waiver of user fee on domestic fliers. Mr Brunner said, “In our case, there is no zero option. We are open to discussing it. It is not viable for us as we have to go back to our bankers and shareholders” for the next phase of expansion.

The airport company is allowed to levy the fee under the Concession Agreement of 2005 signed with the Ministry of Civil Aviation and the Karnataka Government.

The CA also states that there would be no other commercial airport within 150 km of this private-promoted greenfield venture.

The UDF, Mr Brunner said, was to offset its investments – now touching Rs 2,500 crore. Another Rs 2,500 crore is likely to be put into the expansion, which is to begin right away once the shareholders formally approve the plan and that includes a second runway and a bigger terminal.

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