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The Bangalore International Airport Limited (BIAL) that operates the Kempegowda International Airport, Bengaluru, has begun a survey among users for the second runway and seeking suggestions from its various stakeholders. The survey, according to BIAL officials, could take six months, and take another four years after that to complete the work on the second runway and the new terminal building.
This expansion, according to the airport operator, would eventually expand the capacity of the airport to handle 55 million passengers annually from its present capacity of about 20 million. The said expansion could meet the demand for another thirty years. The airport has begun the work on the second terminal.
But, the terminal has a four-year gestation period, from conceptualisation to implementation. “The users have to accept it and their inputs have to be taken into consideration while implementing it,” the official added.
In the first stage of the expansion process, the airport operator said included the identification stage, and then all the users are to be consulted including the IAF, which has an aerodrome closeby, and the HAL which has a runway in the HAL airport. It has started the process for tendering for the runway. But, said the official: “It will take about six months for the land to settle and firm up. The piece of land has a gradient.”
The airport, which was expanded to 20 million from 11 million of its initial capacity, was expanded at a cost of Rs 1,530 crore. The expansion was done from 2012 to February 2014.
Also, the area of the terminal building was increased from 75,000 square metre to 150,000 sq m.
Post the expansion, the airport’s non-aeronautical revenues have been increasing rapidly. The ratio of aeronautical to non-aeronautical revenues today stands at 60:40. Of the 40 per cent, half of it comes from commercial operations like retail, and the other half comes from the concessionaires like the fuel farm, ground handling, among others.
Speaking of the airport’s growth, G V Sanjay Reddy, MD of BIAL, said in a statement: “The principal we would like to follow is not just about creating an attractive commercial environment, but ‘attractive and relevant’, both at the same time.”
