Midfield terminal for BIA

With the amount of land available, surely if we do exceed 60mn Pax per year - lots of options such as yours are valid.

As you can see Below "the blue section" is the section that is up right now. If they do speed up expansion plans they can easily meet the demand

Will BIA publish the 2nd phase layout anytime? I am curious to see what Mr. Brunner has in store for the new phase? Will it be extension of the factory shed? or will they design something different scrapping the old masterplan? Bangalore certainly deserves lot more than what we have got...

AAI study team heads for HAL airport

Ashwini Phadnis (The Hindu Business online)

http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/2008/06/15/stories/2008061551100300.htm 

New Delhi, June 14 The Airports Authority of India (AAI) is sending a team to Bangalore early next week to find out whether HAL airport should be reopened for commercial flights or Devanahalli airport is capable of handling the growth in passenger traffic.

Official sources told Business Line that the delegation will arrive in Bangalore on Monday (June 16) and conduct the study over the next three days.

HAL airport has been closed to commercial aircraft operations since May 24, when the greenfield airport at Devanahalli opened. The airport was closed to fulfil the contractual agreement between the promoters of the project and the State Government.

The airport closure has led to demands from various quarters, including citizen groups and Parliamentarians, on the need for a big city like Bangalore to have two airports.

After a case was filed in court, the Ministry of Civil Aviation, the Karnataka government and the promoters were directed to take a relook at the closure of HAL airport.

Besides, there are differences between the promoters and the Centre on the number of passengers Devanahalli can actually handle.

While the promoters claim that the airport can handle 10.5 million and cater to at least 13 million passengers, this is contested by the authorities.

“The team will conduct a scientific study on the passenger throughput at Devanahalli airport and submit a report to the Ministry of Civil Aviation.

“This report will then be used to present the views of the Ministry to the court. Complaints are already being received about the new airport being overcrowded and airlines facing difficulties,” a senior government official said.

In April this year, following a meeting with the stakeholders, Minister for Civil Aviation Mr Praful Patel said one of the proposals being considered was whether the HAL airport could be kept open for shorthaul flights of 30-45 minutes with aircraft seating up to 80 passengers.

Thanks for the update Narayan. Like Sri mentioned - Mr. Brunner is always defending his factory. I cannot believe he was responsible for Zurich's airport if you compare his delivery of BIA vs zurich itself. For every flaw he has a defending reason which does not justify. Now if you are just building a functionl airport then why spend so much money? If the airport was functional then it should never have had so many complaints.

We may argue why didnt we raise this before.. well some of us here have raised this before when the airport was designed itself. I remember the contact us and feedback forms on BIAL website that never worked.

The point here is - atleast they can scrap their old plans and plan something totally different from the old master plan and still will compliment the factory we have and make it a design element for the future. After all this cry from praja and people all over the world including airlines themselves - if Mr. Brunner and his team think they will do what they want to do then its time our govt steps in to stop this menace..

Apologies for my rants - but its very sad and frustrating to see this happen to Bangalore.

I think there was something wrong with how the project plan was approved. BIAL as a business entity has made the least investment to maximise profits and the end results have backfired. But, it is the Indian government which should have had a vision, given requirements & directions of what it wants in the form of "world class" infrastructure to compete with other airports in the region. We already have a midfield terminal but it is largely an unfinished airport per international standards. I do not want to get into the aspects of whether it is a factory or not because that is a very subjective issue, :-), for example.. I recently transited through Heathrow terminal 3 and to me it seemed like an oversized cramped shopping mall in the central waiting area. But, overall it was massive, capable of handling hundreds of flights with..if  I recall..55 gates(or probably more), efficient and friendly staff, adequate seating in the central waiting area (in the busiest international airport), adequate number of clean and functional restroom at various locations in the terminal. Since on the way back I decided to stop over in London I experienced the immigration hall, checkin hall, then the tunnel that effortlessly links the terminal to the tube station via ramp to haul your trolley full of luggage. In effect a well thought out user friendly international terminal.

In short a very functional airport terminal which was built that way when it opened some 20 or more years ago.

I have made an analysis of the problems inherent in airport operations and design problems in both the old and new airport, have also suggested that the solutions could be -

http://bialterminal-indian-aviation.blogspot.com/

BlrSri,

Midfield terminals is not neccessarily the case. The world best airport, Singapore Changi, is not midfield, neither is the older Don Muang.

Terminal design is governed by many factors including shape of the land.

I agree with you, BIAL overall layout is poor. In my humble opinion, this is due to the excessive dedication to "non aero" activities like SEZ, Business Park, etc. 

North terminal will need to be expanded towards the east significantly, and the new terminal should be terminal east and south. i.e. an inverted L shape or an extended J shape.

The question is one of money. After speaking to many people including BIAL, I get the impression that BIAL promoters are waiting for UDF to start flowing to fund the required expansion. That means that either, they do not have the financial ability, or the risk appetite, to invest any more. 

Both these are very disconcerting signas to receive.

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Regards

Devesh R. Agarwal

Visit my aviation blog at http://aviation.deveshagarwal.com