This was decided after Bangalore International Airport Limited (BIAL), the private consortium developing the greenfield airport at Bangalore, disagreed to the civil aviation ministry's proposal of keeping both the airports operational.
"They are not agreeble to the proposition," said civil aviation secretary Ashok Chawla, after the ministry's meeting with BIAL when asked whether BIAL had agreed to the ministry's proposal. During their last meeting on April 29, the ministry had proposed that the old Bangalore airport be kept open for operations of smaller aircraft having less than 80 seats.
Karnataka High Court had recently advised the government to reconsider the concession agreement with the private developers which says that the existing airport at Bangalore should be shut down after the new one is operational. The court had given its advise while hearing hearing three public interest litigations filed in favour of the continuance of commercial operations at the old airport.
Regarding the issue raised about the capability of the new airport to handle additional traffic, Chawla said that a scientific estimate of the passenger handling capacity would be done soon. BIAL had forecasted a traffic figure of 10.1 million by 2010. However, the passenger traffic is expected to touch 10.8 million by the end of 2007-08 itself. Chawla also said the Director General Civil Aviation had given an assurance that all the licensing formalities for the new airport would be completed in 2-3 days.
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BIAL has estimated a loss of Rs 40 crore as the opening has already been delayed by a month. The delay will may affect the expansion plans of over a dozen-odd international as well as domestic and cargo carriers who were planning to introduce additional flights from the city.