Bangalore international airport to start operations in May-end

The new Bangalore international airport at Devanahalli, about 35 kms from here, will become operational in the last week of May.

According to information reaching here, a decision to launching air services from the newly constructed Bangalore international airport from May end was taken at a meeting of Federal Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel, senior officials of Airports Authority of India (AAI) and Bangalore International Airport Limited (BIAL) in New Delhi on Tuesday.

Though the airport was originally scheduled to begin commercial operations on March 30, the launch date was put off to May 11. Now, the authorities have decided to postpone the date further to last week of May.

Tuesday’s meeting in New Delhi was held in the wake of Karnataka High Court’s direction to renegotiate the concession agreement between the Government and the BIAL on levy of User Development Fee (UDF) and explore the possibility of retaining the existing HAL airport in Bangalore.

Praful Patel is reported to have told reporters that there were legal issues, contractual obligations and complexities involved in the matter. “We have discussed all that. No decision has been taken, but the new Bangalore airport at Devanahalli will be made operational in the last week of May. We will meet again on May 12 to examine various aspects”, he said.

Patel said the Civil Aviation Ministry officials had given BIAL, operators of the new airport, various options including allowing aircraft less than 80 seaters to operate out of the existing HAL airport for short-haul flights.

Meanwhile, BIAL in a statement said that it had insisted on the importance of having a single aviation platform. “We have taken note of the suggestions made by the Ministry and exchanged our views on the importance of having a single aviation platform”, the statement said.

BIAL also said that it had offered to waive UDF for embarking domestic passengers for a period of three months after the new airport opens, but would levy Rs 955 plus taxes for every embarking international passenger.