The Hindu Business Line : Bangalore airport: Clear picture likely today

Bangalore/New Delhi, March 12 A clear picture on the commencement of Bangalore’s new airport is expected to emerge on Thursday, when the Ministry of Civil Aviation is slated to make its first official communication to operator Bangalore International Airport Ltd.

Indications are that the airport is unlikely to take off before April 20.

New date

The ministry is likely to suggest to BIAL that it should look at starting commercial operations at Devanahalli on a date after April 20, official sources told Business Line.

The Directorate General of Civil Aviation – which is the licensing authority - is also due to take a call again on March 20 on the airport’s readiness; its chief was at Devanahalli on March 7 when the airport demonstrated trial flights.

Launch delay

Karnataka’s Chief Secretary and BIAL’s non-executive Chairman, Mr C. Sudhakar Rao, who returned from discussions in Delhi on the State Budget and airport-related issues, conceded that the launch would get pushed by three to four weeks from the proposed March 30 this year as the air traffic management team would not be ready for handling the traffic by the planned date.

He confirmed that a letter from the MoCA to BIAL was on its way on Thursday.

The government would not set a date but would indicate by when the airport could be technically considered ready for operations, he said.

On-site ATM

As for the on-site ATM situation, an official said the radar would be installed only on March 20 and different equipment was being commissioned until March 15.

All the instruments would be in place by the time DGCA came back for the mandatory pre-licence inspection.

The DGCA has given a list of 59 things to be done by BIAL before it can get the green signal.

On the change of date, a BIAL spokesperson, meanwhile, said, “We are currently in discussions with the MoCA and will be able to update you as soon as we receive a final statement from MoCA.”

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