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Written By bcsagar - 7 February, 2008

BIAL Bangalore BIAL

Its a last chance to put our weight behind this issue. In view of the urgency of the matter, the Governor should bring the two parties to the agreement — Civil aviation ministry and BIAL — across the table for resolving the issue or, failing which, seek Central intervention to find a way out. The civil aviation ministry itself doesn’t seem to attach much sanctity to its policy of not allowing two international airports within 150 km. Recently it cleared a proposal to establish an airport at Noida near Delhi and Kannur in Kerala. There are number industry leaders voicing concern, but they need a co-ordinated effort & even citizens need to pressurize the government to act on public opinion. Various schemes like giving equity in HAl airport to BIAL & domestic flights during peak hours are being debated privately. So how do we convince the reluctant BIAL to agree on public interest?

After March, it’s mayhem in Bangalore! - MSN India (http://news.in.msn.com/national/article.aspx?cp-documentid=1230565)

Bangalore: Imagine traveling for two hours to the airport to catch a 30-minute flight. Or, driving to Chennai in lesser time than getting to the airport and boarding a flight. Well, this could be the grim scenario once the new Bangalore international airport takes over the civilian operations from HAL airport on March 30. Though the HAL airport at Indira Nagar is located only six km from MG Road, the city centre, reaching there is still a motorists’ nightmare, given the burgeoning traffic and poor road infrastructure. What would be the travails of passengers if they have to travel 34 km(from MG Road) to reach the new international airport at Devanahalli, with no rail and poor road connectivity for the first 15 kilometres. The Karnataka Cabinet has approved a high speed rail link to the new airport, but the work on it is expected to start only by December this year. It will take another two years to complete the project. The Government also proposes to start work on a 21.2km, 180kmph expressway from Outer ring road to Devanahalli in September, but the stiff opposition from local people whose land will have to be acquired for the project, may still delay the commencement of the work on the project. It will take one year for the execution of the project. What till then? The growth of city’s air traffic has been unprecedented-- from 4-5 million a year projected in 2001 to the current 10 million. BIAL is expected to start off with 11-12 million.. What a mayhem it will be if the HAL airport is closed before finding a solution to the traffic conundrum? Imagine having to queue up for landing at Bangalore and then thread your way through a traffic jam during peak hour traffic! There is a universal demand, not only from the traveling public but also from aviation industry experts and professionals, that the situation in the IT hub warrants two airports, till the traffic to the new airport is streamlined and connectivity issue is addressed. What stands in the way of retaining the HAL airport after the launch of Devanahalli airport is a contractual agreement entered into between the Civil Aviation Ministry and the Bangalore International Airport Authority (BIAL) according to which no new or existing airport will be permitted to operate as a domestic or international airport within 150 km. Both parties to the agreement stick to their guns and keep the public on tenderhooks. The Ministry is adamant that it cannot breach this agreement and thereby deny a level playing field to other international airports in the country. Albert Brunner, CEO of BIAL, affirmed that any move to retain HAL airport would be a disaster as BIAL’s promoters have invested Rs 2,400 crore and are already working at its next expansion. “Keeping the old airport will also be a legal mess as the dozen concessionaires (of airport-related services like cargo, fuel, ground handling, retail, commercial units) are investing Rs 1,000 crore in their facilities,” he said. He didn’t agree with the suggestion that HAL should operate short flights to neighbouring States, holding that long-haul international flights come to a city only on the basis of short-haul links to places beyond it. But industry experts deny BIAL’s apprehension saying that with the skyrocketing demand for air travel, the Devanahalli airport operators will more than achieve the projected growth in passenger traffic and hence there is no reason for the HAL airport to be considered a competitor. The civil aviation ministry itself doesn’t seem to attach much sanctity to its policy of not allowing two international airports within 150 km. Recently it cleared a proposal to establish an airport at Kannur in Kerala, which is only 93km away from the Kozhikode international airport. Major cities like Delhi and Mumbai have had different airports handling domestic and international passengers. In fact, these airports have two terminals each for handling burgeoning domestic travellers. HAL airport can be retained if the Civil Aviation Minister and BIAL agree to review the agreement. But with both the sides in no mood to relent, only a political initiative could now break the logjam. Before H D Kumaraswamy stepped down as Chief Minister, he had expressed himself in favour of retaining the HAL airport. till road and rail facilities from the city to Devanahalli were in place and had offered to take up the issue with the Union civil Aviation minister. But before he could take any concrete steps in this direction, his ministry fell. A popular government in Karnataka is likely to be installed only by May and since the new airport is to become functional on March 30, any initiative to resolve the issue has to come from Governor Rameshwar Thakur. In view of the urgency of the matter, the Governor can bring the two parties to the agreement—Civil aviation ministry and BIAL—across the table for resolving the issue or, failing which , seek Central intervention to find a way out. But the issue is still to come up for serious consideration by the Governor. With no one else for the people to turn to and with the two contending parties looking the other way, it looks as if BIAL would have its way. This is a story that is likely to develop into something big. So, we are trying to get information from all quarters concerned on how a resolution that would help the air travellers at large can be reached. Watch this space for more… (Source: P. Venugopal, India Syndicate)

COMMENTS

Acceptable commute time?

navshot - 8 February, 2008 - 07:50

What is the acceptable commute time? I recently read that it should not be more than 1 hour. Now, people are asking to retain HAL airport because it takes longer than that to reach new airport. I wonder where they are currently staying, must be in Indiranagar. Currently it takes more than 1 hr 30 mins (sometimes even 2!) to reach HAL airport from West and North parts of Bangalore. What do they have to say for this?

Sudden virtues of HAL airport??

s_yajaman - 8 February, 2008 - 09:09

Now suddenly the much reviled HAL airport has become much sought after! Navshot is right - it takes 20 mins just to get onto Airport road sometimes and then 20-30 mins to reach Manipal hospital. Let's leave international flights out of the picture for a minute. From a domestic airport point of view,how often does the above-average frequent flyer fly - 4 return trips a month (that is already 100 individual flights a year!)?. He will have to spend an incremental 8*2.5 hrs a month - 16-20 hrs a month on commuting vs. flying out of HAL airport. Is it the end of the world - probably not. He in fact will find smart ways to manage meetings and avoid flying 20% of the time. He will take the train to Madras and Hyderabad (not such a bad deal). The problem is that all the CEOs, etc who are making such a big noise now are all guilty of watching the inaction over the last 3 years. They are partly to blame for not forcing the govt to get its act together. My two cents... Srivathsa

contracdicting ourselves..spirit of democracy

rnavada - 8 February, 2008 - 11:07

lets try and get the whole process from an outsider perspective( which Albert Brunner tries to put across sometimes in jest and sometimes in anger) 1. Bangalore is the new silicon city, we need a new airport - Year 1995 onwards 2. Vested interests are delaying the airport, we need it fast.--year 2000 onwards. 3. HAL cant handle any more flights..and the road is impossible, why is the government sitting on the papers, clear it fast; damn the clauses( only BIAL will be allowed to operate)--year 2001 4. HAL cannot handle any more flights..cant we speed up the whole process,get it done fast--year 2005. 2007-08: started by "Industry bigwigs" 5. BIAL? that far? where is the conectivity? takes me about 2 hours to get there! nah! give me HAL! inspite of the fact that: 1. HAL cannot handle any more flights. 2. Taxis literally stand on the entrance. 3. Checkin q's routinely go beyond the entrance gate in morning hours( 6:30-9AM) and evening hours. 4. Takes about 1hr 30 mins. for anyone within the city- well; most of them. fact is : 1.Every city has opposed new ports which were faraway from city when started. 2. Having domestic and international flights with 2 hr driving time is non feasible. 3. The " inadequate road" is in fact much higher in width than the current a.port road as-is. 4. We dont commute to airport "daily". unless you work there. Airport should cater to a city and not to certain areas . I live in rajajinagar and i look forward to the new airport .

agree with that

silkboard - 8 February, 2008 - 10:07

Retaining HAL may be bad in long term. Legal tangles, waste of public money (in augmenting and running that airport - AAI runs on our money, plus on BIAL connectivity). In a similar sort of way, I am happy that BIAL expressway didn't happen. See how that has forced all to look for solutions they never though of before - converting ORR to an almost expressway, "instant" flyovers. Short term suffering is good, because only then we will look for fixes. Just watch how BIAL connectivity noise leads to traffic management improvements, especially in North + East Bangalore.

If HAL airport is retained,

christopher - 8 February, 2008 - 02:11

If HAL airport is retained, the connectivity to BIAL will be further neglected and will be given less importance. Afterall, its only international travellers, a small percentage of people will be affected. On the other hand, the pressure to retains HAL should be diverted to the connectivity issues plaguing BIAL. After BIAL all has taken so much of time and money to build and its not BIAL's fault.

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