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BIAL Trip - reports, photos and impressions

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Thanks Shane et al from BIAL for the nice arrangements. We gathered at Minsk Square by 9, left for BIA at 9:35 am, reached in about 50 minutes. We were shown around till about 12:30, and were dropped back at Minsk by 1:30 pm. Unfortunately, they couldn't arrange a Vajra/Volvo for us. But all in all, the visit itself, and putting faces to many online identities was good fun! Praja visitors will be using this post to record their photos and impressions.

[Note for visitors: Please use tag "prajabial" or "bialpraja" when uploading today's photos on flickr. If you are having difficulty using flickr macro in comments to this blog post, contact photoyogi or myself, or just leave URLs of flickr photo in the comment, we will insert those pics inline later]

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Photoyogi's picture

BIAL Visit Photos!

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Praja folks had a sunday well spent at BIAL. A Big thanks to the praja.in and BIAL. Here is a Photo update. The full set of pictures can be found here(flickr photoset link) -- Praveen Sundaram AkA PhotoYogi

-- PhotoYogi

tsubba's picture

awesome!!

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awesome pic that. first thing i did was check py@flickr. and there they were. :) cant wait for the juicy details.
shas3n's picture

Wonderful

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Thanks for sharing those photos. I think it is by far the most extensive photo-set of the terminals and the facilities there. Will look forward for the rest of folks to post here as well!! -Shastri

-Shastri

MaheshSastry's picture

Excellent Pics

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Excellent photos praveen, thanks a lot for sharing them...
santsub's picture

Excellent pics from PY -

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Excellent pics from PY - waiting to see more from others... plus all the answers for the questions that were posted to BIAL.

narayan82's picture

appreciate the speed

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I have to give it to them - though the airport was 99% completed, it seems to have happened it at a commendable speed. I was lucky to visit it 4-5 times during construction, and after seeing the barren piece of land in 2005, this seems to be a super fast transition.I Have to hand it over to them - its a great airport - not just looking but more importantly functionally.I am proud to be in the city it serves!

After seeing the trumpet interchange - it seems to prove my point. You need to find someone who builds with a purpose - an incentive to complete on time. Such construction put BBMPs magic boxes to shame. A haphazard narrow, badly planned underpass takes 2 months to build, while a heavy duty trumpet interchange is nearing completion in a month. It makes me question the purpose and feasibility of magic boxes.

I am sure citizens wont mind putting up with a few more months of the mess, if what was in store was more promising. The new government - god forbid, be it a citizen friendly one - must learn from this, and find ways to follow similar work flows, planning and execution methods to create a much more efficient Bangalore.

P.S - an interesting fact, the spelling option for BBMP in Ms WORD is "bumps" - man they get so accurate!

Narayan Gopalan
User Interaction Designer
Bangalore
Naveen's picture

Great Pics - & We missed you !

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Tremendous pictures & a great airport - whatever the media & ministry says, I feel BIAL has been planned & executed very well with abundance of space all around.

The only thing that I felt might be a deficiency were the escalators - but this might actually need to be tested in opertaion over a month before drawing any conclusions -according to kiran of bial, 'they should be okay', he had said.

TS - had looked forward to meeting you (I did'nt known you were out), maybe next time someplace else !

It may also be a good idea to upload all those pictures provided on the CD by BIAL (I already have them on my PC along with all these !).

Rithesh's picture

More Pictures

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I guess i am the odd one out, i host my pictures on Picasa :(

http://picasaweb.google.c...

nature_raj's picture

Awesome pics....was waiting

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Awesome pics....was waiting for it from morning... did not disappoint at all....:). Waiting 2 hear more from member's.

It would be great 2 put names 2 faces... 4 group snap.

TS.. was hoping 2 see u in the snaps... next time 4 sure...may b in person..:).

 

Cheers

Raj 

 

silkboard's picture

Looks good, and some points

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It isn't a jazzy airport as such. Stress has been on using spaces and a flowing functional design. With plenty of entry gates, check in counters, and security check points (scanners), you could get off the cab, and hit the departure gate quickly enough. Basically, there are no holding areas as such, you feel the space. They scan all bags once you check them in, so no annoying must-scan-bags-before-check-in queue to begin with.

But, as Naveen noted, they could have done better with either one more set of escalators to climb onto the security gates, or perhaps wider stair case that what they have. I can see some crowding happening there.

Another area which seemed a little short on space was baggage claim area. We saw three conveyor belts in the domestic area. They said it can easily be expanded if required, and they can always use the international ones for domestic flights as well. But assuming 10 flights arriving within minuts of each other, 120 passengers per plane, and 60% of them with bags, you are looking at about 700-800 people standing in that hall. Seemed a little tight to me.

About the factory look and all controversy, I think those comments are overdone. The whole big hall is lit well with natural light. Even though they have glass walls around, and glass in the roof as well, it felt hot only inside the aerobridges even though A/c wasn't on. I think the energy aspects of the building have been designed well. No glass for the sake of show off, and no artificial lighting when its not required.

8-9 aerobridges seem a little less, but their explanation is - low cost airlines prefer the cheaper option of tarmac boarding, so 8-9 is all they may require to start with. Peak concurrent handling is estimated to be 20, about half of these planes could be on the aerobridge. So the number 8-9 may be enough. May be they picked this number with expected usage in mind, but I thought aerobridges help airlines deplane and board faster so they too may prefer bridges. I notice that spicejet and Go air quite often use the bridges at HAL.

Didn't ask our hosts a lot on why they haven't gone for vertical separation of arrival/departure traffic. Answer was - what they have has been designed well for the purpose and numbers. Though I noticed that one has to walk across arrival/departure traffic to hit the car parking area, a ped bridge or underpass should have been better. I am guessing that folks have to cross over the departure traffic to walk to the arrival taxi area. Perhaps no big deal, but just a point.

They have a huge car parking area. All uncovered, but I can see enough space to easily go multi level if needed later.

They get water for the airport from BWSSB, no digging at all, and have designed whole airport area for extensive rain water harvesting.

More as and when I recall, and may correct some I may have gotten wrong above.

 

narayan82's picture

w.r.t aerobridges

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I have noticed that airlines including Jet Airways & Indian purposely park away (At HAL) even though the bridge is available. So they decided to use the bridge only when the turn around time is less. With a bridge - the turn around time for an aircraft is about 30-40 minutes. Else even the full service carriers are inclined to use one of the 42 remote parking stands. I wish we could have seen the buses that ferry people.Or myabe they will use the existing ones - in which case I hope the use only the low floor busses! I think the double arm bridge is going to make a huge difference. I assume these are to connect to the front and rear doors of a plane. So the 747s (BA & Lufthansa) will find this a lot easier and save a lot of time. Also the good part is the "swing area" tactic. So during nights the international area can be enlarged and vice versa in the day. This is a HUGE space saving method.
Narayan Gopalan
User Interaction Designer
Bangalore
MaheshSastry's picture

Pranav, I asked Geeta the

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Pranav,

I asked Geeta the same question that you have mentioned, that is about the baggage claim area. She told me that, they are using some advanced technology for the baggage claim  and the time taken to get the baggages from the aircraft to the baggage claim belt is less than 5 minutes. She was also not sure about the time because only when in use they can measure the time. But, still I am not sure whether it can handle that many baggages in peak hour. 

She also mentioned one more thing, the peak hours for the domestic would be in the morning times and evening times and if it exceeds then they would use the middle two baggage belt that is common for both domastic and international. This was also actually a good idea.Usually most of the international traffic starts after 9 PM.

 

 

MaheshSastry's picture

BIAL and HIAL

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Today it was really good that we visited our new Bengaluru International airport and saw the long waiting dream project of Bengaluru. Inspite of all the political, naming and ATC controversy it looks excellent.

With the on going competition for the airports of Bangalore and Hyderabad here are some points that I noticed after visiting both the airports.

I will not compare fully because it can be done only when BIAL comes to function.

1) BIAL is built keeping the traffic and people in mind, giving a bit less for refreshments and shops compared to HIAL. May be can comment on this after fully functions.

2) Check in counters in BIAL is in same place for domastic and international, but HIAL has it in different places.

-- I feel having in same place is advantage, because, the terminal space for the passangers at peak hour would be huge enough to handle. Our airport are not like the Eurpoean airports where both international and domestic traffic is same at all times. After 9 PM, the international traffic starts and after 10PM the domestic traffic slows. So morning times when there is peak domestic traffic all the 52 check in counters can be shared and during nights the same can be shared with international. This would lead to huge space for the passangers for both domestic and international.

But having in different places, the domastic passangers would be ristricted to international space, so the space given for the domestic conters would be less and that international space would be kept idle untill the international traffic starts at night.

 

3) The connectivity road to BIAL airport from the NH7 and State high way. Its simply super. I have never seen such interchange roads for any indian airports. The road that connects to Shamshabad from NH7 has no interchange connectivity.

People comming from Shadnagar has to gone till they find an U Turn and have to take U turn and take the flyover that leads to Shamshabad. But, here people comming from Devanahalli and Bangalore can easily reach BIAL.

The state highways that connects Shamshabad is still going on, that is the road that comes from Srishailam highway.

But once they complete the flyover that connects Gachibowli to airport, then it would be a good connectivity for people comming from Kukatpally and Hightech city.

4) There is huge space in the security gates at BIAL than campared to HIAL.

HIAL has concentrated more on shops and refreshment bars, but have less seating in security gates compared to BIAL.

Other things we can comment only after the BIAL functions.

 

 

 

VishalMaharaj's picture

First of all Hi to Praja. I

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First of all Hi to Praja. I am new to the forum and lucky to have met most of the members already. I was in the BIAL trip today and had come with Rithesh.

The Airport trip was fantastic and really, it was true to its name.."International"..

One thing that this airport lacks (as i feel) is a giant display board.. I think it is a must for any airport to have a giant board that can be seen from a very far off place.. And also it is a great added beautifying factor for an airport.

The futuristic looking Fire Fighter by Rosenbauer was really a surprise package as Shane had promised it to be. I have taken its video and will soon upload it.

nilanjon's picture

Hi All, I've posted my snaps

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Hi All,

I've posted my snaps at http://www.flickr.com/photos/75513700@N00/sets/72157604414889611/

I thoroughly enjoyed the trip to BIAL. Nothing was a surprise for me since I had seen a lot of pictures of BIAL already on Skyscrapercity.com.

Some observations :

Positives:

1. The whole building is superbly lit naturally. Natural light is anyday more pleasing than artificial light and will serve to create a bright and relaxing atmosphere inside the terminal.

2. Multi airline usage (dynamic) check-in counters with back-end baggage screening - will help in quick path to gates after arrival at the airport.

3. A really large pre-check-in area, if you consider passengers freely flowing also to the arrival area. I hope there will be no separation enforced.

4. Lots of greenery in the departure hold.

5. Short distance from parking to terminal (unlike Shamshabad !!)

6. Use if grantite and glass cladding made the interiors soothiing to the eyes.

 

Negatives:

1. I felt the number of security check terminals was too less if you consider the time taken per passenger. There will be a lot of queing space, but not enough security check points.

2. To me, the departure hold for domestic passengers looked inadequate for upto 2000 passengers. Maybe the idea is to induce window-shopping and eating at food courts.

3. Length of baggage claim belts was quite small for domestic area. The whole baggage claim area looked very cramped and will be a definite sore point once the airport opens.

4. Communication with AAI seemed to be a weak point at least on the Corporate Communication guys who took us around. I at least hope at the Board level, AAI is well in the loop for communication, else God knows when DGCA will clear this excellent airport.

Photoyogi's picture

TS, this is for you

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TS, We were looking forward to meeting TS, We had such fantastic Panoramic views check this out   -- Praveen Sundaram AkA PhotoYogi

-- PhotoYogi

blrsri's picture

neat..

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Neat job should say..however there are still few questions..

There is a presumption that the international airlines will operate only in the night..it will soon be time when we will set the terms and get the airlines operating in our day rather than the night..afterall who would want to eat cold bread at 3 am on the flight?

The followup of that is that the check in counters of atleast 8-10 will be needed by an international airline at a time and they will invariably have long queues..needs to be seen how the domestic and international will be handled together..

Also, as we do currently at night, if 6-7 international airlines start around the sametime..we will use all 50 check in counter? we will again grossly fall short!

Btw where will the airline offices be? The places where we need to pay for those extra kilos of packed MTR food! They need to be close to the check in counters for faster clearences! 

There are still lot of doubts on how road pick-up/drop traffic will be handled..that could get messy having both entrance and exit on the same level.. 

loveblr's picture

Awesome Photos ...

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Hi Praveen..

  Great work ... n great pictures ..I am just waiting for the report (Q & A). I wish i was there. Anyways ... you guys are the eyes to remote members like me and are defnitely doing great job.

i feel work is still going on .... and the Problem with the "Dust on the Runway" taken care.

ps* All the pictures posted by the members are Awesome .. 

thx

Loveblr

MaheshSastry's picture

Happy Ugadi to you all and

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Happy Ugadi to you all and your family members!!!!

Sri, I accept that the place for check in counters is bit less and would be conjusted durining international peak hours. When I asked same to Geetha, she said that they would consider in the next expansion.

The airlines office is next to the terminal building towards west. But for the extra MTR pack, now a days they are collecting the money at the check in counters itself. Even in HAL airport when I went last time, Emirates had the card swiping machine and were collecting the money at the check in counters. 

silkboard's picture

baggage claim area

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picture from nilanjon's photo set. Number of belts seemed enough (if planning mixed domestic and international). but they seemed to be a bit too close to each other, and the hall seemed relatively stuffy. The word relative is important here, because of the areas we saw, this was only one which didn't use ample natural lighting, and had low ceilings. Some more Pictures from PY's flickr stream:
loveblr's picture

Happy Ugadi

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Hi

  Wish You All Happy Ugadi ... and keep up the good work ..

regards

Loveblr

thebangalorean's picture

Have not had the benefit of

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Have not had the benefit of visiting BIAL, but from a couple of visits to HIAL, it appears that the baggage belts are better at HIAL

i. Airy high-roofed area

ii. 5 belts in all

iii. Wide separation between two belts with seating area between two belts

iv. Seemed like the length of each belt was atleast 40-50 metres

v. Angular belts to prevent luggage from falling off the belt.

But , all that not withstanding, on both occasions, it took forever for the baggage to turn up, more that it normally did at Begumpet or at HAL.

narayan82's picture

Check-in Counters

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Along with the 53 checkin counters there are also the Self Check in Counter. I think the combination of the Self-Checkin and the "fast Bag Drop" is a useful combination. They dont take too much space and more can be added around the building and maybe also in foyer in front. The New terminal 5 at Heathrow has a LOT of SCC (Self checkin counters) and very few conventional checkin counters. Come to look at it - when you go to check-in at a conventional counter you dont say more then "hello" and "thank you." Could do away with it...
Narayan Gopalan
User Interaction Designer
Bangalore
pbatny's picture

baggage claim area

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First Silkboard thanks for arranging and helping me in getting in to the airport on time despite of missing the bus.!

Regarding baggage claim area, yes it is bit cramped, I was able to count 7 belts and according to the Kiran and Geetha, they have flexbility to accomodate Domestic and International traffic depending on the demand. I noticed the some set of belts  are separated by a glass partitions. in fact 3 + 2 + 2  configuration. I guess this helps them in separating the domestic and internationl traffic based on the demand.

Overall, it was an excellent trip and the aiport looks awesome.!

 

Rgds

Prasad

muni_blr's picture

BIAL visit

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 A well organised trip from the BIAL and thanks for the guys from
praja in making it happen. Me and my wife thoroughly enjoyed it.

Postives that I noted.

1) The Design is simple, beautiful and functional.
2) The landscaping looks promising though a lot of it is still in progress.
3) The color combination, interiors and feel is good and will not date soon.
4) The modular design will allow for future expansion.A mirror image of the
present runway will be built about 2 kms parallel to the existing runway. This makes the present master plan looks promising.
5) The trumpet exchange and the road from the BIAL terminal to the
trumpet exchange has been executed by L&T in record time ( some work is still pending but the amount of work done in 6 months with a few thousand workers working during peak periods to get it to its present
state is really commendable)
6) They seem to have done some decent planning interms of parking fees for vehicles for long and short term parking. How they execute it efficiently remains to be seen.
7) They have earmarked 100's of acres of land for generating indirect revenues and the the down town city plans look promising.

Negatives

1) Lack of a Big Flight information display system in BIAL is a sure shot cost cutting exercise . Geetha from the BIAL arhictect team when asked was of the opinion that the 40+ or 50+ inch screen was big enough.
2) The BIAL still doesnt sound absolutely sure about the opening date of MAy 11 as the elections
may have some bearing. Hope they open the airport in everyone's interest.
3) The argument that they have designed  the airport with the present requirement and they would ramp up the capacity and start the next phase of construction on future requirements is not convincing enough. Their estimates dont seem to be accurate enough i reckon.
4) No hotels would be ready around the airport inauguration. They should have ensured atleast a couple of hotels to be ready for usage in the airport city ( Aerotropolis in the BIAL premises)
5) They should have planned a multi level car parking facility in the first place owing to the huge number of vehicles that are there in bangalore. HIAL has almost double.
6) They should have made provision for the Railway lines in the master plan itself which i feel is a lack of vision.
7) Transportation to the airport will still be a concern and the BIAL authorities should ensure that they get all help and co operation from the Govt in this regard.


The success to a great extent will depend upon how well the BIAL will manage the people, facilities, flights, transportation future expansion in the years to come. It has to learn quickly from its present construction experience of how things work here with all those unwanted influence from all aspects. 

Hurry Home

The Sage

Hurry Home

The Sage

Vasanth's picture

Where will BARL come - any ideas that the officials suggested?

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Anything that the officials stated where BARL rail link would come as per any feasibility study?

I was watching the megastructures program on NGC about Beijing International Airport which will handle around 108 flights at a time. There although rail link is delayed, station is already constructed in the airport with all the weight testing equivalent to a train on the station within airport.

Rail link contract also should have been given to BIAL at the time of construction itself which would have ended all the connectivity issues.

Photoyogi's picture

Photos of BIAL from other members @Flickr

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Hi Praje, Thanks for all the encouragement on the photos, I must tell you that other praja members have taken FAN-TASTIC pics too and posted on flickr its good to see several peoples views on the same subject. (bout 280 pics and growing) http://flickr.com/search/... Those who have not uploaded to flickr and want to.... Please do add the tags "prajabial" Any YouTube updates??? -- Praveen Sundaram AkA PhotoYogi

-- PhotoYogi

narayan82's picture

If only there was some way

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If only there was some way to implement chinese tactics without ruining democracy it would be ideal! The Current HAL airport handles about 7.5 million ppy (passengers per year) but is equipped to handle only 2.5 million ppy. Yet it does not seem as crowded as the Delhi or mumbai airport before thier revamp. Hence though we say the limit is 11.5 million ppy - even if it handles 16 million ppy we may not notice it. However I hope the modular expansion facility, allows sections of terminals to be opened faster (instead of waiting for a long period to open one big terminal.)
Narayan Gopalan
User Interaction Designer
Bangalore
Naveen's picture

Airport Rail link

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Vasanth - as per indications, the alignment is along bellary road throughout & a city termial was announced at police grounds on cubbon rd opp BRV - you may have already heard this before.

I had asked kiran at BIAL about this - he was non-commital & I had asked him why the monorail option was not being studied since no investment may be required on the part of BIAL or the state govt. He was again not sure where things were headed.

In china, they are out to outdo the rest of the world & seem to be succeeding - what with the world's first maglev at shanghai, & now, the world's largest airport coming up at beijing, but here, they are arguing on & on with no end in sight. Absense of a properly elected govt is another big handicap.

My own guess is that the rail link may not be focussed on now & may be planned with future expansion of the airport as traffic may not justify the costs at present.

silkboard's picture

SWR and BIAL?

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Naveen's comment above reminded me about a question we asked them on Sunday. We had asked if BIAL had talked directly with SWR to explore using the SWR tracks. [Those railway lines just stare at you once you cross the trumpet interchange and head towards BIA].

They said that they had, but Mithun was not willing to give any more details. I have requested for the contact details of people at SWR end they talked to. If there was any 'official or organized' discussion between BIAL and SWR about using those tracks for commute to BIAL, wonder what it would have been. BIAL investing in upgrading nearby station or sharing costs for track or coach upgrades? I am very curious to know more.

I remember than back in early 2006, there was this talk of having check-in counters at City station which implied some usage or upgrade of SWR's assets.

adiraj_09's picture

Excellent Pics

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Dear All,

 Each one of you have posted gret pics and I thank you all for that !!

 BIAL looks really great and truly INTRENATIONAL...im impressed !!

Im already getting a feel of the new airport...

Thanks

vikram_huruli's picture

Hi Guys,

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Hi Guys,

First of all, thanks Pranav, Praja team and BIAL for making this trip a good one. I had a fantastic time there.

And here is my set of pics. Unfortunately, I could not post all the pics because of the limited space. Anyway here is the link:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/14073402@N08/sets/72157604417716360/

 

silkboard's picture

BIAL - facts and stats (PR sheet)

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Quick Facts

Distance from CBD (MG Road)

34 km

Land area

Spread over an area of approx.4000 acres

Airport Capacity

On AOD – 12 million passengers per annum

On final project realization – 40 to 50 million passengers per annum

Passenger flow at the Terminal building

Accommodates 2733 passengers at peak hour

Passenger transfer (domestic and international) under one roof

Short ways for passenger convenience

Common use of check-in counters

Passenger experience combines business and leisure

Check in counters

CUTE enabled check in counters: 53

Self Check-in counters: 18

Runway Details

4 km length, 60 meters wide with three rapid exit ways

Runway capacity

30 aircraft movements during peak hour

Current aircraft movement in Bangalore

440 aircraft movements are expected daily in May, 2008

Capacity of cargo warehouse

300,000 tons annually.

Boarding gates and aerobridges

Total boarding gates: 20

Aerobridges: 8 (one double arm)

9 remote bus bays

International Airlines

Air Mauritius, Malaysia Airlines, Tiger Airways, Oman Air, Air France, British Airways, Air Arabia, Gulf Air, Dragon Air(subsidiary of Cathay Pacific ), Lufthansa, Srilankan Airlines, Thai Airways, Singapore Airlines, Air India, Kingfisher Airlines, Emirates, Indian, Etihad, Qatar Airways, Transmile. Cargo carriers: Quikjet, Jett8

Domestic Airline

Kingfisher Airlines, Jet Airways, Indian Airlines, Alliance Air, Go Air, JetLite, Indigo, Spice Jet, Paramount Airways, Air Deccan, Blue Dart

Car Parking Facility

2000 car parks and 10 coach disembarkation bays

700 car parks for staff

Security counters

Domestic: 8 Airport Security Units (APSU), 1 X-Ray per APSU

International: 5 APSUs; 1 X-Ray per APSU

Five level security screening system for checked baggage

Immigration counters

Departure: 18 , Arrival: 18

Operational Airport Management

The Airport Operation Control Center (AOCC) is the nerve centre of the new airport where representatives of all the various organizations operating at the airport are stationed. BIAL has pioneered this concept for airports in India.

Getting to the airport

From NH7, the airport is at a distance of 5 km. This road has been developed by BIAL. In addition, the Trumpet Interchange connecting NH7 to the airport was ready on March 28, 2008.

BIAL also has a 10% equity in the elevated link project

Transport

MeruCabs and Easycabs for taxi services (fare Rs. 15 per km)

Hertz and Akbar Travels for luxury transport services

BMTC Vayu Vajra A/C Volvo buses (min fare Rs. 70, max fare Rs. 200)

BMTC Suvarna non A/C buses (min fare Rs. 20, max fare Rs. 90)

Foreign Exchange

Thomas Cook and TT Forex

Main F&B operators

HMS Host and Café Coffee Day

Curbside Retail and F&B

Radha Krishna Hospitality Services (RKHS) - South Indian food
Subway and Baskin Robbins ice – Continental food
Kaatizone and Gangotree Chats – North Indian food
Odyssey- magazines, gifts, flowers

Domestic Retail and F&B

Retail: Shoppers Stop, La Moda, Life’s Spirit, Crossword, Carbon jewelry, Mithaas
F&B: Taste of India, Time out bar, Barista bar, Cookieman Coffee

International Retail and F&B

Retail and Duty Free: Spirit of India, Crossword, Sound & Vision, Deepika Govind and Ethos watches
F&B: Kingfisher Sports Bar with Pizza Hut and Illy Café.

nature_raj's picture

Hi

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Hi

Any idea on the prospective international airlines starting operations from bangalore. Have read from press reports about making blore as hub... which are the airlines currently in negotiation with BIAL to start operations...any idea...??

Raj

 

Lufthansa

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During the recent visit, i noticed the 'SkyChef' van that brings food for passengers parked at BIAL. So one can safely assume that Lufthansa is planning to have full scale operations from BIAL.

Kingfisher has applied for permission to fly internationally, but they will not be able to do so in August this year, which they were scheduled to, but will do so from the winter this year, according to a recent report by the 'Economic Times'

tango08's picture

Thanks for the updates!

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Thanks for the pictures and taking the time off to make the trip. It appears BIAL have cut a lot of corners and they seem to have very good excuses for them. The Airport might just suffice for the traffic as of TODAY and given the growth of traffic being witnessed, it makes sense to keep the HAL airport open until they clear up their act and work on the expansion. Proponents of the HAL airport should concentrate on the capacity constraints of the new airport and not on the connectivity. With so many bottlenecks (escalators, security check points, baggage claim, departure lounge) and backward looking assumptions (based on current practice of international flights operating primarily after 10 PM), an independent audit of the airport's capacity will call BIAL’s bluff. P.S: I wonder why despite the overzealous use of space saving and cost cutting measures, the project cost of this airport the same as that of HIAL!
kbsyed61's picture

Waiting for the answers to questions on BIAL !

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Guys,

Thanks to all those who took the trip to BIAL and posted their feedback along with lots of photoes. I am certainly missing the experience.

Hoping that the visit has answered many questions that were listed here. Looking forward to the answers to all those questions that were posted on Praja. 

Thanks once again. 

gowda's picture

Awesome

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The pictures are absolutely wonderful, thanks !!

I saw a small scale model of the airport city (i hope that's what it is), do we know what those buildings are?. They seem awefully close to the runways.

Also, was the ATC off limits?

 

admin's picture

how about your impressions as well?

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vjammy aka vikram, like you did on skyscraper city, how about leaving comments or impressions here as well. 18 Praja members visited on Sunday along with friends/family (total 36 people). I dont think all have posted comments and pictures yet.
narayan82's picture

LSG SkyChefs and Taj SATS

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LSG SkyChefs and Taj SATS are the only two conccesionaires for catering. New airlines coming in are Kingfisher - New York & San Francisco, Dragon Air - Hong Kong, Air Mauritius, Air India - San Francisco, Jet Airways - Brussels, Mihin Lanka - Colombo and Tiger Airways - Singapore. Apart from these guys Singapore Air, Emirates, Thai, Malaysian and all will get more slots and increase frequency. But I am hoping a lot more airlines turn up - Virgin Atlantic, KLM, SAS, Quantas....
Narayan Gopalan
User Interaction Designer
Bangalore
narayan82's picture

Yes ATC was off limits. I

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Yes ATC was off limits. I asked on of the BIAL employees and they said it was off limits as it had been handed over to AAI and they were having thier training classes.
Narayan Gopalan
User Interaction Designer
Bangalore
sharathiyer's picture

Awesome Trip....

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Thanks Shane and admin team at Praja for arranging the trip. It was indeed a wonderful experience for all of us.

Firstly, I was very happy that more than 90% of the team members had reached the cubbon road junction at 09:00 AM. It kind of shows that our team values everybody's time.

I would narrate an incident that happened at Kuwait airport while I was on board a kuwait airlines flight to Bangalore. While the plane was just about to take off, the air hostess pulled out a huge tank full of water from the baggage cabin overhead and passenger argued that it was holy water and he wishes to retain it. I was shocked about the security at the airport considering the fact that it was such a huge airport and we all passed through so many security officials.

To put it plainly, I am not of the impression that a flamboyant facade and plush landscapes attract passengers to the airport. It is security, baggage handling, timely arrivals and departures and general hospitality shown at the airport which will attract passengers.

In all these aspects, I think BIAL has wonderful expertise and they have proved it time and again at some of the world's best airports.

Regarding the connectivity, I see that it should not be too much of an issue. Since there are lot of roads to get to bellary road from the city, I am hoping the 10 lane from mekhri circle to Hebbal-flyover gets over(atleast the land acquisition is over..phew..) and from Hebbal-flyover it is a good road till the trumphet flyover. The Trumphet Flyover work has been remarkable considering the fact that it was started five months ago and the KSRTC Bus transmit terminal would also enhance connectivity from that place.

I am of the impression that airports are away from the CBD at most big cities in the world and would congratulate BIA for the commendable job they have done to our Bengaluru.

Regarding retaining other airports, I really have some key questions. It has taken 2 hours for me to get to HAL airport too couple of times. Was everybody sleeping then? Or how about stray dogs on your runway! I agree monopoly for a particular organization is bad, but look at the service, security and hospitality. Atleast, that is what I take back from an airport.

vikram_huruli's picture

BIAL visit - Comments/Suggestions

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All those who went will agree to two facts:

1. The trip was very well organized

2. The airport looks a lot better when seen in real than in photographs (especially the ones posted in BIAL website)

I am sceptical about the distance between the entrance and the check in counters. There is going to be crowding there i guess, especially with more international airlines offering daytime flights. Domestic and international passengers at the same time can cause some chaos.

 I loved the new kind of flight info display. I think its modern and going beyond the traditional giant screens. They have a lot of flight info screens, so we should not judge this to be a cost cutting measure.

 Also, some SSC (skyscrapercity) people wanted to know if BIAL is planning to put up boganvillea or some creepers for landscaping. Anybody having any information about it or whether we can recommend this to BIAL?

vikram_huruli's picture

Raj, 

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Raj,

 Tiger Airways, Oman Air, Dragon Air (subsidary of Cathay Pacific) and Air Mauritius (code sharing with AI) will now operate from next month itself. Kingfisher/Deccan is busy with route rationalization but may start atleast one of the two long hauls from Bangalore (either BLR-SF or BLR-NY). Deccan will surely start with Gulf routes and maybe to other short international destinations.

Etihad, Singapore, Air France, Sri Lankan etc want to increase capacity.

s_yajaman's picture

Good trip

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Pranav, Shane (and others from BIAL),

First off, thanks for organizing the trip and thanks for letting the family join.  My kids had a great time and were thrilled that they could see the tarmac and the firefighter. 

There are no perfect airports (my benchmark is Changi though) in the world and so there will be areas of improvement. 

a. I really liked the use of natural lighting in the terminal building.

b. A lot of space at the check in counters.  There were 53 check-in counters and even if there were 20-30 people at each (based on the space there could probably be even 40 without issues), that's 1000-1500 people at any one time. 

c. Let's say an escalator has a throughput of 2 people/sec.  The whole check-in area (1000 people) could theoretically be transferred up in 250-300 secs (5 mins).  I would not see this as a huge bottleneck.  A better way would be to see how many check-ins happen every min.  If every check-in counter did 1/min - you would have about 50-60 people at the escalator/min.  Should be no issue.  (Remember every check in counter doing 1/min means 3000 people/hr) or about 25 flights/hr.

d. The domestic waiting area seemed small. I assume they must be kept deliberately small to encourage people to use the shopping areas!?

e. My biggest concern is the number of baggage belts.  At peak hour this might be a bottleneck.  Let's do some calculations.  At peak hour 20 aircraft land in one hour.  An average of 1 in 3 minutes.  They need to get the bags on one belt out in 15 minutes so that the 6th planes bags can be put on it.  That looks stretch.  900 secs for 250 bags?  It has to work like clockwork.

f. I have found annual capacities less helpful in such analysis.  I would rather check numbers in terms of peak flow possible/hr.

g. Other concern was lack of lighting along NH-7 and the number of crossings.  This road can be a mess at night with our fondness for speeding.  I hope they put lights at least at critical places quickly.

Srivathsa

 

 

Drive safe.  It is not just the car maker which can recall its product.

navshot's picture

Sign boards

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First of all, thanks for all the time and effort to visit BIA and also to share the snaps.

One thing that straightaway looks bad to me is the height of the sign boards - its too low. The bottom of the sign boards should be atleast 7 feet from ground, so that you read the whole thing from far away, even if the place is crowded. HIAL seems to have the same issue.

-- navshot
Bengloorappa's picture

Wuhuuuuuu... this is so

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Wuhuuuuuu... this is so exciting!
The pictures look funtahstic and I cant believe I am not going to have to wait for an hour for my baggage to arrive and not be jostled by eager auto, taxi drivers.
On the flip side, auto drivers are perhaps the only folks who talk in Kannada when I land in Bangalore, that will certainly be missed - Its good in a way to keep them out of the departure area and provide them seperate space near the trumpet interchange.

I have the following questions for the fortunate lot who visited the new A'port,

1. Is there a kids play area?  I could see only Baby care room; what about the not-so-much-a-baby ones?
2. There are no directions toward trolley stands for luggage etc., up until what point are trolleys allowed? - Are there smaller trolleys for use after the security check-in?
3. Where is the seating area in the In'tl departure hold? - Are the seats good, what about the ones similar to Changi or KL, are they comparable?

Thankyou all, the photos are very nice. 

Photoyogi's picture

Rosenbauer Panther - Video

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The Rosenbauer Group is one of the world’s three largest manufacturers of fire-service vehicles, based in Leonding, Austria. Rosenbauer supplies the fire fighting sector in over 100 countries with a wide range of custom fire and rescue apparatus and services. It produces its extensive series of fire fighting vehicles and aerials in three continents, to both European and US Standards. This Video is a Demonstration at the Hong Kong Airport, I assume this is what BIAL can offer in terms of safety too.

(Link to the video)

Praveen Sundaram AkA PhotoYogi

[Edited the comment as youtube embeds cause IE to crash - Admin]

-- PhotoYogi

tsubba's picture

bial

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awesome awesome set of pics, videos and even artwork folks!! many thanks. fotos and reports both did great angles and details and coverage!! take me sometime to digest the serious details. eye candy stuff ... the amount of natural light in BIAL is amazing. idont think i have seen a pic of even 1 lit bulb at bial. awesome. the magic of roof and its south facing windows. it is great to hear that it is cool too. harvesting water. i too love the chapaDi kallu columns. b'villas are an awesome idea. the walkway covers look awesome.
narayan82's picture

one things for sure - you

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one things for sure - you dont have to haggle with Auto drivers when you enter bangalore :)
Narayan Gopalan
User Interaction Designer
Bangalore
madhu_nr's picture

NH7 lighting + other comments

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My son & I enjoyed the trip to BIAL and was happy to meet the Praja members face-to-face. The whole thing was excellently organized by Praja and BIAL. Thanks to Pranav, Shane, Mithun, Kiran and Geetha for their efforts.

Agree with Srivatsa about NH7 needing street lights, up to the trumpet exchange. BIAL has put street lights from there to the terminal.

Departure area escalators might be adequate since passengers tend to relax after check-in, so there won't be the usual scramble.

No children play area available, as someone asked.

Baggage claim area did not look insufficient to me. Low ceiling, yes, but enough space around carousels, I feel.

There are comfortable seats provided in the departure lounges on level 1. The aero-bridges with their transparent glass sides look cool.

The overall ambience is nice, airy and non-claustrophobic. One can see the airside tarmac from the waiting areas, which will keep the kids occupied.

Arrivals & Departures at the same level could cause some chaos outside the terminal, specially if the entry roads to both areas are not segregated.

Giant display board is not present in most airports nowadays. Most have been replaced by TV screens at regular intervals.

Madhu

Madhu

adiraj_09's picture

One Question ??

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Hi,

Does BIAL have overnight car parking lot?? - like the one in many international airports where I park today and come back from travel and take my car after 2 or 3 days?

 

Naveen's picture

Local Heritage - Desirable at Arrival Hall/s

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Hi All,

I was impressed with BIAL too, but as TS had mentioned sometime back, I wud like to see local murals, statues, ravi varma paintings, silk artwork, & other depictions from our state on the arrival hallway. Models of the temples at Belur /Halebid, Hampi /Aihole /Pattadakal /Badami, Mysore /Bangalore palaces, etc. to introduce visitors to the local flavor is desirable to promote our heritage.

santsub's picture

everywhere

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Awesome post..

 It should actually be everywhere - in the terminal and if possible outside too.. It can be appropriate in any large walk way to have murals and local art to give local artisans a place to display art and promote our rich culture.

 Adding to this - I was just wondering Bangalore is a modern city with many modern art enthusiasts.. can we get some metal sculptures and hang them from ceiling like a museum... The airport also can boast of an art and heritage museum to generate more revenue.. - Just a thought

narayan82's picture

BIAL has over night parking

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BIAL has over night parking at Rs.300 per night. This is in the long stay parking area. I will scan the parking map and put it up tommorrow.
Narayan Gopalan
User Interaction Designer
Bangalore
narayan82's picture

local art...

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It would be nicer if local art was given in small doses. Instead of painting the airport with culture have a few installations at the parking lot, and the roundabouts, and at the trumpet interchange/NH7. I feel too many advertisements/signage/paintings would clutter the area. Hyderabad has put up stickering on its Glass panels at the departure area. This is sad as it blocks the view onto the airside, making you feel like you are in a smaller area. The feeling of space (in congested bangalore) is what I like most about BIAL...
Narayan Gopalan
User Interaction Designer
Bangalore
tango08's picture

Kingfisher will do it!

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Just as in current airport, Kingfisher will plaster the inside of aerobridges with posters of bare chested bollywood hunks and skimpy clothed babes. This should be a gentle enough introduction to "local art and culture" for all visitors to the city!
santsub's picture

dang!

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Thats a blow! Phew.. well I think BIAL has to restrict anysuch plasterings on the airside and let it be the way it is - open glass for every passenger to watch the planes take off land and other activities.. I h ave not seen the airport in person - but I am hoping such a thing will not happen :)

tsubba's picture

parking map

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please please do.
blrsri's picture

'They stood. And stood for something. Just by standing.'

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thats Seamus Heaney in Logan Airport, boston...

we can have such nice sayings of great ppl.. one of the options is to have kinetic murals..

something that people might want to associate bangalore and BIA with..something whom everyone might want to take a snap with to remeber!

There was a early design for BAIL with rangoli patterns on the floor..that was actually neat ..but was shot down by praful patel..citing 'international look' 

tsubba's picture

local art

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sure, there has to be some discreteness about it. but a well placed badami mural, a few nice fotos, some nice prints and a strategically placed shilabalika or engraved woodwork from mysore can really turn the heat on a few notches. it is karnataka's main interface point to the rest of the world. when you get there you should transition into karnataka. i bet there will be a few hundreds headed to mysore's yoga schools. some cool yoga pics can add to that excitement. a few vistas of the ghats. some classy paintings from mysore. and so on. pride of the place has to be the shilabalika and the hampi motifs. if not inside the airport outside it. in the piazaa, or the golf greens and perhaps at the enterance right after trumpet. its a rectangular design. fits naturally with our strengths... piped classical, carnatic, hindustani and western. one thing that would be uber cool is they can get prominent bangaloreans & 'digas to do the welcome messages in english, kannada and hindi. that'll be awesome.
Bengloorappa's picture

Something that can be done

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Something that can be done in the near term, as "santsub" proposes above, is to have Metal sculptings and other designer (or abstract art) pieces hanging from the ceiling or near less used areas to provide a contemporary look, while local artefacts should be given as much representation as possible. For ex: The entrance to the parking lot/Stroll area could have a stone arch which is a replica of many found in Hampi or Belur/Halebid.
This way the Minister is also kept appeased and the locals as well.

adiraj_09's picture

Any KSTDC Counter in BIAL?

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Does KSTDC/KSRTC/BMTC have an enquiry counter anywhere in the airport?? It would be very useful for KSTDC to have a counter, they can definitely attract a good percentage of foreign tourists with lot of package tours...especially during the Dasara season!!

silkboard's picture

Space for KSTDC, one more comment on looks

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They have given space to KSTDC in arrival area (I asked them, they pointed to a counter in arrival area). But I was not sure if that was paid space or concessional. I did ask though on if they are providing concessional advertising space to promote Karnataka tourism to put up inviting banners with pictures like tarle has showcased from flickr in a comment above. They said that whenever any advertising space would go empty, their would fill that with tourism promoting banners (space for KSTDC I assume). But I wonder if they will have empty/unsold ad banner space on a regular basis.

About KSTDC cabs - I am sure you know by now that we wont have HAL style pre-paid cab counter at BIAL. They said KSTDC wasn't willing to meet their standards of cab service (safety - mandatory seat belts, gps in all cabs). This has been a controversial topic so far, so didn't ask them a lot more questions on this, and Kiran smartly brushed some questions aside by commenting that BIAL's focus is more to get people to reach airport using public transport.

I was talking to a KSTDC union guy  recently and he said that KSTDC can always run cabs to a point till the trumpet interchange on NH7, right near where BIAL will pick up people via their NH7 to BIA shuttles. I asked Kiran (BIAL PR gentleman who showed us around and answered most questions) if they could actually do this, the answer was yes. My take is that if there is demand for cheaper cab services without caring for  standards (caring only for cost), something like this could indeed come up. IT depends on how good BMTC's BIA bus services will be. Rs 150 vs around Rs 1000 or more, well you know what cost conscious passengers will do. But still, arriving passengers could still need something in between high fare cabs and public transport - a segment KSTDC cabs could fill in. Anyway, lets see, we will sure hear more on the subject soon.

One last comment on looks, I may not have said it clear enough in my earlier comments. The airport looks good, though its not been done in any jazzy fashion. Natural lighting, nice use of glass in walls as well as ceilings. There are no curves, colors or fountains thrown at you at entrance or anywhere else. There are no fancy metal trusses to look at on the high ceilings. But it doesn't look boring or factory like, definitely not. All other comments here say the same thing, bottom line, it looked elegant and modern.

I also asked if there were any design elements aimed at growing the airport as a transit place (aka hub) for international traffic as well. Answer wasn't more no than yes. But I notice in the floor map leaflet (which one of us would scan and upload ASAP, sorry for the delay) that there is provision for passengers to enter to international dparture area upon arrival via a 'transit way'.

santsub's picture

BIAL Website

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BIALs current website sucks - I have tried to send messages to them umpteen number of times but the form never gets submitted. Its time a professional designs it. Its the first face of the airport to any traveller or visitor in the world. Both the website and the airport needs a serious design change.

thebangalorean's picture

Who says KSTDC cabs are

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Who says KSTDC cabs are inexpensive. They are a rip-off. If you take a pre-

paid KSTDC cab from HAL, the per-KM fare works out to approximately Rs. 22/- when compared to Rs. 12/- for a city taxi and the Rs. 15/- that Meru and Easy Cabs are going to be charging.  

silkboard's picture

Thanks for that

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Thanks for that note thebangalorean. I am not supporter of KSTDC as such. I assumed that KSTDC cabs may offer cheaper fares than other cab companies contracted by BIAL. If that assumption is not true, then there is no reason to miss KSTDC cabs at BIA.

Cheaper or not, KSTDC unions etc will certainly try to create some 'trouble' for BIAL (based on the loose talk I hear from the airport pre-paid drivers). Hope things stay under control on that front. I was telling them that they should try work with BMTC instead to offer local (last mile) drop services around the pick up points of BMTC BIA routes. If BMTC services do well, there will be a need for such local drops. Or rather, these local drops would help make BMTC's BIA services successful. (this reminds me of cvikash's post last year).

 

bialterminal's picture

BIAL Concerns - 1

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Hi

The interior of the new Bangalore airport terminal is impressive indeed and  definitely much better than the poor infrastructure we have had for decades. But, I have seen a number of questions raised regarding different aspects. I would like to share my thoughts about some of those


1) baggage claim conveyer - Questions have been raised about this and whether it was cost savings. One has to understand that this type of baggage system is called direct feed where it is one long conveyer moving circularly with a portion of it on the air side of the terminal where the baggage is loaded onto the conveyer belt. This is the simplest and cost effective solution requiring less maintenance but one major disadvantage is that baggages often fall off.

The other system is called a remote feed which you see in terminals like Los Angeles Int.(LAX), the new Hyderabad airport and elsewhere. The costs increase because a set of conveyer belts bring luggage all the way from the air side baggage handling area and drop it on to the sloping conveyer system(seen in Hyd.Airport photos) in the passenger terminal. This is more difficult and expensive to maintain & operate.
The advantage to this type of system is that baggage rarely falls off(you will have to go look at one to see why).

So, I definitely see cost cutting being done here.

2) dual level (exterior&interior) separation for arrival and departure - I don't buy the story of local demographics. Obviously a completely dual level (building and elevated flyover for the departures) is much costlier than the current option of a big building with a semi dual level on the interior and exterior single level; so BIALhas definitely done cost cutting. In fact, for the demographics of India, considering the population size an  land being a premium resource it would make sense getting double the capacity from the existing building length given that arrivals and departure would be completely stacked one above the other in the same given area of land.

India being notrious for absense of law enforcecement & lack of traffic discipline, imagine the havoc that would start with mixing traffic, people walking around etc. Once the multi storey car park was built it would have been a matter of linking it with a skybridge to the terminal.

And, let's not forget that an airport with aerobridges cannot be built with a completely single level in the interior; they have to match the height of the aircraft so BIAL has not done anybody a favour by having an upper level in the terminal building. I see that BIAL has done cost cutting here too.

This is one point which I haven't seen being discussed, so please throw some light -

1) I am concerned that there are just two entry points to the departure area after checkin. One set of escalators at each end of the terminal. From the pictures I could not gauge at what point the security check post will be after the escalators. If it is a short distance from where the escalators end then we are looking at a potential problem where during peak hours the queues would extend till the escalators, then all the way down into the checkin hall. In this case I really hope that there are procedures in place to stop the escalators before the queue reaches that point, otherwise it is a safety issue with people coming off the escalator at the top & hitting people standing in the front.

I will be posting more concerns/comments once I actually fly through the airport.

Photoyogi's picture

KSTDC cabs @ BIA

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I happen to have a driver who is an Ex KSTDC cab Driver. (lol!) my info on the situation is that KSTDC did not want to move to BIA. They wanted the HAL airport to continue functioning. Sadly (for the drivers) they also missed the tender process. Akbar seems to have been smarter they have gotten themselves a slot as a Luxury cab operator. I agree with silkboard, we are going to see some trouble from the airport taxi drivers union. I hope BIAL has that under control. On another note, the airport taxis charge twice as much as they are supposed to do pickups only from the airport and return to the airport "empty" THIS IS A CRIMINAL WASTE and the passengers are footing the cost. Where as most other call-cabs have other ways of putting a passenger in the cab back to the airport, which is a much greener solution to the problem. -- Praveen Sundaram AkA PhotoYogi

-- PhotoYogi

madhu_nr's picture

Hi bialterminal I agree with

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Hi bialterminal

I agree with you about the lack of vertical separation for Arrivals and Departures. Combined with the fact that they have not segregated the domestic and international pax too, I can envisage chaos here. Specially at the entry / dropoff points to the terminal. Lets wait & see how it pans. That's the only concern that I have, after the tour.

My perception about baggage claim carousels is different. I have seen in heathrow and other airports where they have angular carousels a la Hyderabad and have seen luggage falling off. May be aesthetically better to look at, but nothing beyond that. Given the more complicated loading of the luggage in the airport entrails, I feel its no big deal. The concerns about low ceiling etc., expressed by others also may not not be too relevant, as its a centrally airconditioned airport and passengers are more worried about grabbing their luggage and exiting. Its quite spacious.

I did mention to Geetha at the airport about the presence of only two sets of escalators at the departure lounge. Actually, I think its a set of two at each end, with a staircase in-between the escalators, though am not certain about the far end, as I did not go there. The scramble in airports is usually at check-in. After that people tend to relax. At the first floor, there is enough space between the security check gates and the railing for about 30 people to stand in queue. Also, there are 8 security gates for domestic alone, if I recall right. So, should be able to clear reasonable crowds quickly.

Madhu

Madhu

narayan82's picture

Taxis

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KSTDC taxis and Autos will make sense for people who stay around the airport in areas like Yelahanka and neighboring townships. All Vaayu Vajras miss this area, so the only option is Auto or Taxi. So they can always get an Auto and come to the trumpet interchange. If i am not mistaken the shuttle bus is free. But on a serious now, we should consider a City Air Terminal (CAT). It will solve most of our problems. I dont see why media and govt. are ignoring this solution.
Narayan Gopalan
User Interaction Designer
Bangalore
muni_blr's picture

Bus Service for Passengers on Arrival

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We are discussing more about the passengers who want to get into the airport and not much on the passengers who want to get out of the airport to their destination.  Are we neglecting this part :-)

There should be a couple of LCD screens dedicated to the BUS service ( volvo and the regular) inside the terminal for the Passengers on Arrival so that they can buy tickets at 3 to 4 counters. These LCD screens can be used to display the route, destination and time of departure and time taken to reach the important parts of the city so that the passengers can benefit. 

I agree with tarlesubba about the display of artwork that symbolises the city/ state. It would have been really nice if these things were to be incorporated in the interior and exterior design of the airport.

Hurry Home

The Sage

Hurry Home

The Sage

ardude's picture

Airbus A380 @ BIAL

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I wanted to know whether BIAL's runway and aerobridges are designed to handle Airbus A380 when that plane does start flying to Indian cities. Some time back, if I remember correctly DH had reported that BIAL can't handle the A380s. Is that true?

Also, can anyone tell me whether it is possible to arrange a private visit to BIA one of these days? If yes, how? (Does BIA give permission or better, a guided tour?)

Thanks

santsub's picture

Airbus A380 @ BIAL - Width factor

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BIAL is capable of handling A380 - only if they expand the width of the runway - the length is 4000 mtrs but I remember Albert Brunner had made a statement that by increasing the width from current 60 mtrs to 75 meters.

What I dont understand is why did they get stingy in building a wider runway in the first go... thanks for bringing this up... BIAL proposes to expand it to 79.8 mtrs wide.

Again the question of how did it cost our beloved BIAL 2500Crs for this airport?? HIAL has already made it A380 ready.

Photoyogi's picture

Airbus A380s at BIA --Q&A

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Praja: Can the A380 Land at BIA ? BIAL: BIA can accommodate the A380s to "land" or "take off" but currently handling passengers/baggage/security/immigration, that will be *the* issue. Praja: Why? BIAL :The A380s carry 4 times the capacity of the current long haul airliners. Praja: asked if HIAL can handle A380s? BIAL: that its the same case @ HIAL too. Praja: When Kingfisher would be geting their A380's ? BIAL: KF is supposed to get their aircrafts in 2011 by which time BIAL will be able to handle the aircraft. -- Praveen Sundaram AkA PhotoYogi

-- PhotoYogi

bialterminal's picture

Hi Madhu_nr I completely

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Hi Madhu_nr

I completely agree with you on the baggage carousels. I personally don't care which way it is as long as there is enough space for people to stand and there is enough space on all the carousels for the luggage. Since there were questions raised about cost cutting I was throwing some light on how the 2 systems are different and made an observation that it was cost cutting. So long as it is functional there is nothing wrong in picking a cost effective solution that is reliable and does the job efficiently. Once again, as I mentioned before, the interior looks of airport are fabulous (beauty lies in the eye of the beholder :-) ).

 

 

blrsri's picture

HAL apt runway A380 ready!

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yes...it is said that A380 can land and take off from any airport that can support a 747!

So ideally the runways are not a problem..however handling of that many extra passengers at one go can be!

tsubba's picture

A380

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A380 pax handling occasionally is ok too. but dealing with a fleet of them on a regular basis is what is a problem, atleast according to brunner, from what i remember.
tsubba's picture

trumpet exchange

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(click to see bigger pic) where is this in relation to also where is this and what is the opening on the left for (blue area) where is the ksrtc inter modal transit unit is going to be? bcoz from what i understand it will within the trumpet itself. every one from ksrtc down to the auto rajas, including the bmtc and the independent taxis, have been charting indepedent designs for the trumpet exchange. so it will be a major transit point. all pics from photyogi's album
ardude's picture

A380 parking and aerobridges

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My other concern was since the A380 wingspan is bigger, whether the horizontal separation between 2 aeroplane parking bays (/ aerobridges) is sufficient in BIA. In other words, does it "fit" in?
tsubba's picture

more pics from bial press kit

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photoyogi has uploaded pics from the bial press kit enjoy maaDi http://www.flickr.com/pho...
santsub's picture

Presskit pics

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Awesome - looks good - hope they will use some local and modern art inside the terminal to decorate it. But its cool.

kbsyed61's picture

Vistors Gallery

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Is there a vistors gallery just above the departure area? Back in 80s, HAL used to have a visitor gallery.
kbsyed61's picture

Bricks used in Parking Area Surface?

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Photoyogi Sir, Thumba thanks for the press kit photoes.

The photoes has nice glimpse of parking area in detail. Looks like the parking surface has been finished with bricks. Wiil the surface last the weather and wear and tear of the vehicle usage?

vikram_huruli's picture

Photos moved

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Hi guys,

I had to move the photos to:

http://picasaweb.google.com/jammy97/BIALVisit

because of less space in Flickr. Sorry for the late notice.

Photoyogi's picture

Parking area brick finish?

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Please see http://www.flickr.com/pho... It looks to me as "inter-locking cement tiles(bricks)" they are AFIK quite durable and easy to maintain / re-lay etc. -- Praveen Sundaram AkA PhotoYogi

-- PhotoYogi

mailabode's picture

There is usually 1(or max

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There is usually 1(or max 2) special counter(s) for checking in 'over sized baggage or baggage you are not sure of because you left it unattended for sometime or if your baggage needs to be handled with extra care' - at airports. I assume BIAL will have one as well. Get your boarding pass(check-in will tell you to go to the special counter to deliver your baggage)- go to the oversize luggage counter, show your boarding pass, put your baggage on the extra large conveyor and get your baggage collection card(all in 1 minute) and keep walking to the gates or to the refreshments area upstairs(refreshments upstairs in BIAL i believe).

If its overweight - the extra charges are paid at the check-in(i dont think we need airline offices for this)- thats how  it is in all major international airports.

Thanks.

mailabode's picture

Wonderful pics. The

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Wonderful pics.

The departures information screen: Its difficult to identify some of the airline names from their logos on the screen- i think it was a bad idea to have the logos(its only fashonable but not practical in my opinion). They are distracting(from the rest of the screen when you view the whole screen at once), and some of them not so clear. I prefer they were just text like the rest of the info on the screen which are crisp and clear.

Bigger screens would have been good- i hope they have atleast one big screen somewhere in the building after checkin.

mailabode's picture

In a BOT model of operation

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In a BOT model of operation 'how much of their own money' they spend on their business- is their own problem'?. I mean - If they spend more unnecessarily it will be their loss- isnt it?(no govt bailout like AAI or PSUs can avail). Its not comparable to a situation where the Government gave X rupees to AAI and they overvalued all materials and costs and gave a higher estimato make the total as X in order to make money - i suppose. Why would there be a public audit of not-so-public funds?. The lenders will get info what they require.

If am wrong pls do explain.

mailabode's picture

Escalator

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Apart from what you said about the escalators- Generally,  people using the airport should learn that when they when they want to travel standing on the escalator- they must stand on the right side(of escalator as is the norm)- and allow people who want to walk past us(move faster) on the same escalator to use the left side - thus we allow two rows and dont block the path of people who want to move faster. Systems make facilities more efficient.

I think i've read somewhere that they plan 20 flights per hour to start with- perhaps that will suit all the optimal rates you have given. Pls correct me if am wrong.

Your concern about lights on the highway requires to be brought to the attention of the Govt Authorities and also the NEWSPAPERS and BIAL for they can coax the authorities as well.

mailabode's picture

Kids play area, Smaller trolleys after security check ..........

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Kids play area- a good suggestion. 

Smaller trolleys after the security check should not be allowed for it will only cause unnecessary conjestion- people(in general) should learn to travel with only required hand luggage and max extra a laptop. 

Seats should be good- if they are the same as Zurich.

santsub's picture

Postal Services at BIAL

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Have they made any arrangements at the airport for an Indian Postal Service counter?? I was at the ATL airport yesterday and had to send mails. Thats when it struck to me we never thought of this at BIAL what if flyers want to mail something or get stamps or postcards?? some good revenue for the postal dept and also a chance for them to brush up on their people handling and aesthetic skills...

tsubba's picture

bot

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but what about the city? dont we have to know what we are going to be left with after the T? and since expect to be the people whom the airport is going to be transferred, dont we have the right to know, if we are being transferred a well nourished and useful asset?
Naveen's picture

Interlocking Pavers at Parking Lots

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Photoyoginaware,

Many thanks for uploading the pictures - these are inter-locking pavers, similar to the ones used on driveways - which should last quite some time.

kbsyed61's picture

Arrival Area !

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I couldn't get a sense of arrival area after the baggage claim is done.

Does the checkin counters in enterance at ground floor occupies entire terminal width or it has adjacent space for arrival area?

bialterminal's picture

how does HIAL compare?

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I personally think that the new HIA (Hyderabad International Airport) has beaten BIA (Bangalore International Airport) hands down. Again, this is just by looking at the pictures and using that in the context of my experience of having travelled to other international airports. 

http://picasaweb.google.com/keeper.store/NewHyderabadAirport

Not only the vertical separation, but also but also notice the ample space at each level available for pick up/drop off/waiting etc. Also, they have 12 aerobridges. Just 3 more, but definitely more than BIAL. Has anybody visited both HIAL & BIAL? If so please share you feedback and what lessons can be learnt from HIAL if it is superior indeed as it appears in the pictures.

 

blrsri's picture

tension membrane structures

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One thing in the design that is evident is the use of tension membrane structures for covering the part of the arrival & departure corridors! I beleive that is tech from the HIAL images, sheets streached across trusses. Something like below at NASA..

recently lot of structures are coming up using this..mostly used for hangars at airports..its is also used for its aesthetics and practicality in varios usages..Denver apt uses it extensively..

BIA is more tradiotional with a hint of european conservativeness..however they can plan this at any stage as it is easy to install..and more advanced with materials from dupont etc..

About functioning..lets see what wins hands down..european expertise in running aiports..or josh! 

Bengloorappa's picture

Wishlist

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I am trying to enlist the good-to-have features that some of us have proposed in the comments made on the original posting for the benefit of others and concerned persons at BIAL.
Some of these might already be present, but may not be announced just yet,

1. Accomodate murals, paintings, sculptings related to History and Culture of Karnataka inside and outisde the terminal, to promote understanding and tourism
2. Integrate public transport information(BMTC/KSRTC) systems into BIAL's information systems to guide passengers who do not want or cannot afford BIAL's cab services, self-drive services
3. Post, Courier and mobile rental services for terminal users
4. Coin phone and credit card intn'l calling phone booths
5. Play area for children
6. Baggage storage facilities for back-packers, short term visitors
7. FOREX and travel insurance counters
...

Vasanth's picture

These pictures put in Metre Guage era of Tippu/Kaveri Express

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TS, in olden days, during metre guage era of Bangalore-Mysore railways, there were two trains - Tippu and Cauvery Express. These metre guage trains were primarily built to attract tourists had pictures of all the tourist attractions of Karnataka every 2 chairs. These trains were introduced by Kengal Hanumanthaiah when he was railway minister. 

Now, these pictures needs to be introduced all over airport with the help of a neat interior decorator as well as the Vayu Vajra buses.

s_yajaman's picture

KSTDC rip off + Bombay new terminal 1B

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Came back from Bombay this morning and had a chance to sample their all new terminal 1B (btw, I have been flying IndiGo quite a bit and they are pretty good!).

There were 80 check-in counters in just terminal 1B and all of them were operational.  There are 20 more (I think) in terminal 1A + possible 50-60 more in the international airport. 

The new terminal has been truly done up well - good drop off and pick up area (horizontal separation and works well).  Nice waiting area after arrival.  MERU taxis were also in operation. 

The growth of air traffic is truly staggering.  I left yesterday morning for a 6:00 a.m. flight and there was a huge queue outside Bangalore airport.  I caught a 5:55 a.m. flight from Bombay this morning and same scenes.  Almost every sq.m. of space between the taxi way and the runway is now apron space.  This morning our plane was parked near the international terminal in Bombay,  The bus took about 10 mins to reach.

On the way out of Bangalore, checked with KSTDC on the rates to Richmond Town (MG Road was Rs.200).  They said Rs.270 as Richmond Town was in a different area (same distance -8km!).  This works out to Rs,35/km.  What sort of rip off is this?  Took an auto (was a bit too tired to go out for a Volvo) that cost me Rs.56 (electronic meter).

I might have the chance to fly into HIAL next weekend and will let you guys know how it is.

Srivathsa

 

Drive safe.  It is not just the car maker which can recall its product.

s_yajaman's picture

Nandi and Chamundi?

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Vasanth,

There were also the Nandi and Chamundi express in the MG days -no?

Srivathsa

Drive safe.  It is not just the car maker which can recall its product.

madhu_nr's picture

Arrivals Area

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@kbsyed61

The check in counters in Departure area span up to half the width. The Arrivals area is free and I recall Kiran of BIAL mentioning that visitors / receiving parties could come in here. There will be a sort of Meeting Point, with a few eatery kiosks etc.

Madhu

Madhu

Vasanth's picture

Yes, Nandi and Chamundi too was running

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Yes Srivatsa, there were trains Nandi, Chamundi and a Mysore mail too during MG days. Those days, trains were less crowded and we could travel by sleeping many times.  Trains were maintained cleaner than what it is today.
santsub's picture

Tension membranes

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With existing Design in BIA - These tensions membranes are the only design solution.. Infact I was wondering if they can create a village like area in the center of the U shape of the airport outside and connect it when they start the 2nd phase and cover it with these membranes on roof.. plenty of light and ventilation plus its the wow factor.. infact they can color coordinate them to give it a variation and bring in that cooling effect...

tsubba's picture

looks

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i think too much is being made of the looks. how the roof looks from the top, from side etc. say there are 5 rows of seats in a plane only 1/5 of them can even see the airport from the sky. i personally dont remember the facade or the structure of any of the airports. that way the dabba at detroit is no different from the dabba at schipol. but what distinctly is etched in my mind is that while detroit feels like a die hard, schiphol feels like a die another day, to put it crudely. admitedly, i have never been to all the middle eastern and east asian airports. the only things i remember from for their top views are the gorgeous mountains of afghanistan, the grand canyon, german country side and perhaps the skyline of chicago and it suddenly comes up on you from across the lake in the horizon. (ohare itself i remember for the 50 extra bucks i had pay and for the hopeless coffee.) that is the scale of things required to bind you. there is only so much a single building can to do you do from air. jmt.
santsub's picture

Looks inside is what matters more

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TS you are right... Looks inside is what matters.. the only hope here is that BIAL will live upto it. May be once the Airportcity comes up looks from outside will get stunning too but for now - inside is what matters...

 

blrsri's picture

tension membrane issues..

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saar nothing about looks..what I was quoting was both HIAL and BIAL have tried to make cost effective structures..we went with 'factory look' and they went with membranes..

the problem with tension membranes, for all the advantages it provides, is that its hopeless in a fire..it completely evaporates..though some are fire retardant! and can it survive a cyclone/high winds as well?

santsub's picture

Tension Membrane Strength

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Sir :) I was reading online after reading replies here.. that tension membranes have evolved - like you said there are fire resistant variety and also these can withstand high winds and cyclones... infact some links say they are even using them for our own controversial sethusamudram project connecting India and SL (Palk bay area). Aukland Int and Denver Int use these too.. - I was talking about tension membranes only because we can add both functionality and aesthetics instantly to our factory like airport :)

JMT.

madhu_nr's picture

Trumpet exchange

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Hi TS,

The first photo of the exchange (above) is looking at it from the airport side. The far wall is the entry loop (ramp) from Bangalore city side for traffic going to the airport.

You can see it in photo 2 as the umbrella handle part of the loop.

The third photo appears to have been shot when the bus was on the ramp from the Devanahalli side. Actually, the bus did not take the ramp from Bangalore side when going to airport, since according to Mithun (BIAL) some work on retaining walls etc was still in progress on that ramp. We passed under the interchange towards D'halli, took a U-turn further up and entered the interchange from that side. 

Madhu

Madhu

tango08's picture

I agree, BIAL is a disgrace,

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I agree, BIAL is a disgrace, a huge let down for Bangalore. While Hyderabad walks away with a futuristic and classy airport, we are left with a socialist era building which looks like a sized up HAL airport. It is not just about the roof or façade, but everything about BIAL cries out "cheap" and "inadequate". Some gandhians here take refuge in the facts that it is "simple", "frugal", "naturally lit", etc. I would have lived with that argument had this piece of junk cost us half of that of HIAL!
bialterminal's picture

Good to know this. How good

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This is in response to

--------------------------------------------------

KSTDC rip off + Bombay new terminal 1B

 -------------------------------------------------

Good to know this. How good is law enforcement to make drivers not to block through lanes and prevent people from parking for a longer time than necessary?

Here in LAX (and other airports) if you park and not actively loading/unloading passengers/luggage you are pulled over by the police and ticketed.

Devesh's picture

Aerbridges are expensive

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"Contact Stands" i.e. aerobridge stands are expensive options for domestic airlines. BIA is charging around Rs. 5000 per flight for a contact stand. So if you look at a Kingfisher or Jet who fly between 30 and 50 flights per day, the total fees will take a terrible financial toll.

International airlines pay about Rs 10,000 per flight for a contact stand since they typically use "Twin Aisle" aircraft (B777, A330, A340, B747). for international operations. However if you work the financial dynamics of number of passenges X air fare, the price works out.

BIA has total 8 contact stands, but these get reduced to 5 for the "Twin Aisle" wide-body aircraft due to the wingspan of these aircraft.

If I remember correctly, BIA has only 1 double arm contact stand. These arms will connect to the first and second door of the aircraft. The arm cannot extend over the wing due to the under-carriage at the bottom of the arm.

-----------------------

Regards

Devesh R. Agarwal

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

 

-----------------------
Regards
Devesh
Bangalore Aviation
Enjoy life, destroy FUD
narayan82's picture

I have noticed some LCC's

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I have noticed some LCC's use Aerobridges - as thier turn around time is less. Especially Spice Jet and Indigo. When you land if Aerobridge's are available you can have them. So if you know you are going to have a full flight then you can afforf to take an AeroBridge, else the remote parking stand. So during Peak hours the aerobridges will be in demand.
Narayan Gopalan
User Interaction Designer
Bangalore

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