B'lore to host airport infrastructure expo in Dec

Bangalore, which hosts India's biggest airshow "" Aero India"" once in two years, is now getting ready to host yet another international event in the aviation industry.

The event, Aerodrome India 2005, to be held from December 7-10 at Palace Grounds, is country's first-ever exhibition and seminar on airport security, infrastructure and operations.

Organised by PDA Trade Fairs (PDA TF), it will provide a platform for exchanging views and information among investors, airport infrastructure product and service providers, key government officials, airport authorities and airline operators.

As part of the event, a threeday seminar will be organised to bring together leading international experts for providing perspectives on the status of research and development in new products in civil aviation security, infrastructure and aircraft maintenance.

"We believe in harmonising such initiative and potential to provide a mutually beneficial industry platform," says Pradeep Devaiah, chairman and managing director of PDA Trade Fairs.

The event is significant as there have been many developments in the sector recently, such as starting of budget airlines and setting up of greenfield airports at Bangalore and Hyderabad.

The government is planning to modernise airports at Mumbai, Delhi, Chennai, Kolkata and other airports at a cost of $11 billion. According to IATA, domestic air travel is expected to touch 5 crore from the present 1.9 crore by 2010 and Indian aviation business to reach $30 billion by 2020.

Aerodrome India 2005 is being sponsored by Bangalore International Airport Limited and is organised in association with Airports Council International (ACI) and Society of Indian Aerospace Technologies & Industries (SIATI).

It is supported and endorsed by the Union ministry of civil aviation, DGCA and AAI. The organisers expect participation of over 100 companies from both home and abroad.