Managing Director & Chief Executive Officer of Bengaluru International Airport Ltd Hari Marar believes that planning for a second airport in Bengaluru should start as soon as possible.
Second Airport for Bengaluru
Currently, Bengaluru is one of the biggest airports in Southern India. It is also expected to be the hub for Air India. The city currently has only 1 airport – Kempegowda International Airport. With the addition of its newest Terminal T2, the airport currently has a capacity to handle 40 million passengers in a year.
BIAL MD Hari Marar on the sidelines of conclave by FICCI said that this airport will reach its peak structure capacity by 2032-33. By this time period, this airport will be handling arounf 92 million passengers in a year. Beyond this, the expansion seems impossible.
The concession period for the current airport in Bengaluru is 60 years. This means that even before half period of concession duration, the airport will achieve peak capacity. Hence, Marar said that the state government should have started the planning to identify land for second airport at least 2 years ago.
HAL Airport is an option?
Bengaluru has one more airport which is used majorly for military or business purpose. Just like Hyderabad has Begumpet, Bengaluru has HAL Airport. When construction of Kempegowda International Airport begun, there was a demand that until May 2033, no airport can get commercial flights in 150 km radius of KIA. This is the exact reason why HAL Airport does not accommodate commercial operations.
MD Hari Marar said that a proposal regarding this was submitted a long time ago and it would be better for the government to start looking for land as soon as possible. The government should make sure that there is no choke in connectivity and should look at the longer term perspective.
Source : Times of India
Featured image : Ank Kumar, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
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