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Our Bureau

Bangalore, May 22

Like it or lump it, the air waves over Bangalore will inevitably shift northwards five minutes past midnight on May 24.

All those flying abroad out of Bangalore in the wee hours of Saturday will get a feel of the spanking new airport at Devanahalli. Aircraft landing from 8 p.m. on Friday also have the option of landing in the Bengaluru International Airport – though they will have to wait until midnight to take off again.

Air India will be doing the ‘State’ honours for the Rs 2,500-crore public-private venture built over 33 months and waiting since March 28 to begin operations. The national carrier said its flight IC 957 to Singapore would be the first aircraft to take off at 12.01 a.m. on May 24, marking the official start to BIA’s operations.

At 9.45 p.m. on Friday, the Jet Airways flight from Mumbai, 9W477, will be the first commercial aircraft to land there.

The opening of BIA also signals closure of operations of scheduled commercial airlines from the 50-year-old HAL airport.

Unlike the Begumpet airport at Hyderabad, only the civil enclave of the defence facility will shut down, while HAL and defence entities will continue test flights there.

But Bangaloreans have been agonised for months over the commuting distance that increases almost four times to at least 40 km; the taxi fares that zoom to Rs 600-1,000 each way from many sites from the current Rs 200-400.

HAL airport officials said they were ready for the transition.

Some 15 aircraft will offload passengers at the old airport between 8 p.m. and midnight on Friday, and fly empty to Devanahalli for flying out later. Kingfisher and Simplify Deccan had confirmed such a plan.

The civic authorities have spent several crores of rupees in the last few months to put up innovative bypasses and underpasses all along the traffic-dense road to Devanahalli; NHAI too, has four-laned the NH7 that leads to the new airport. BIAL says it has introduced new features such as speedy self-check-in kiosks, modern, single-point baggage screening at check-in, and self-driven cars.

BIAL’s CEO, Mr Albert Brunner, said it does not take more than 60-90 minutes to get to the airport from any point.

However, Electronics City and Whitefield residents on the east expect it to be a 70-km trip taking two to three hours. There are fears that short-haul flights within the State and in the South would get hit.

The Bangalore Metro Transport Corporation is flying 40 ‘Vayu Vajra’ buses along nine routes from the city points. Nine hundred GPS-fitted cabs, premium cars and self-driven cars are the other modes.

The car park can hold 2,000 cars. A fourth option, a hi-speed rail link, is also in the offing in the coming years.

More Stories on : Airlines | Infrastructure | Karnataka

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Green lights for Bengaluru airport on Saturday

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