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Our Bureau

Bangalore, Aug. 19 A Ministry of Civil Aviation team led by the Secretary, Mr Ashok Chawla, on Tuesday held talks lasting 3-5 hours with top State Government officials and the operator of the new Bengaluru International Airport. The team from Delhi arrived on Monday evening.

The DGCA Chief and Airports Authority officials were present at the meeting held with the State Chief Secretary, who is ex-officio Chairman of the airport operator company - Bangalore International Airport Ltd.

Airports Authority of India and the State’s infrastructure arm, KSIIDC, are minority partners in the airport promoted by the Siemens-led consortium.

While details of the meeting were not immediately available, an official closely associated with the developments played it down and said they were meeting routinely before the hearing on the public interest litigation that is coming up in the High Court on August 22. They had held similar meetings prior to earlier hearings in the case, he said.

“We took stock of the facilities at the airport, tried to figure out what are the deficiencies, if any, at the airport and what can be done immediately. Many suggestions have been made to [airport operator] BIAL in the past and it has done enough of them already,” the official said, adding no significant decision was taken on Tuesday.

BIAL, which on August 24 completes three months of airport operations, is waiting for MoCA’s clearance to start levying the user development fee – vital for its revenue – on domestic departures; international fliers already pay a Rs 1000-plus UDF.

The officials’ meeting comes at a time when the State legislative assembly has chosen to pick holes in the facilities available at the airport and form a committee to look into them.

Ever since the airport at Devanahalli opened on May 24, some sections in Bangalore have been pressing that the old HAL airport be reopened for short-haul flights.

The PIL is one such demand. There are also murmurs about poor facilities at the airport and improper use of space, affecting passengers. In June, an AAI team surveyed the facilities at BIA for passengers and cargo movement.

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