BIAL Updates

Updates on BIAL including rail overbridge and Kingfisher Airlines' Plans for BIAL.

BIAL launch set for March 30

The new Bangalore international airport, five months away from zero hour, has started spreading the word among customers and travelling public about its launch date, March 30, 2008.

Just after the midnight of that day, Bangalore’s all domestic and international flights will land at or take off from Devanahalli, 30 km away, instead of the existing HAL airport.
“Now is a good time to start informing everybody about the new airport,” said the spokeswoman for Bangalore International Airport Ltd, the five-promoter special vehicle that is building the Rs 1,930-crore greenfield airport.

“We have started feeding the thought of the opening date around, from the civil aviation authorities, the Government, airlines, to corporates and the public.”

It would mean an airport constructed from scratch in record 32 months and which would start off with handling 9-10 million passengers annually; some 20 airlines are likely to touch down here.

Manuals Ready
Nine manuals — pertaining to operations, safety, security, maintenance, emergency — and the airport readiness plan have been drafted and submitted to the Director-General of Civil Aviation. Approval of them will get BIAL the licence to operate an airport.

In a parallel activity, BIAL is keeping airlines — the airport’s primary customers — and corporates posted of their new destination starting just after the midnight of March 29-30, 2008.

Besides sporting the date on its Web site, the company has begun with the medium of newsletters, mousepads, bookmarks, T-shirts, besides routine mailers to drive home the message. “For now, it’s all being done in an unconventional way,” the spokeswoman told Business Line.

“We chose the recent Bangalore Book Fair to put out the message through book marks and T-shirts for all the organisers at the fair. There were quizzes for school-goers about the airport.” The promotions should obviously pick up in the coming months.

Site Visits
Another way is to encourage select site visits by companies, schools, colleges and institutions, apart from the now regular trips of airline teams. “It was difficult earlier as the construction was at its peak; we now have a person solely to interact with these interest groups. The project is more than 80 per cent over, with landscaping at the parking lot and runway lighting done,” she said.

The Siemens Ventures-L&T-Unique Zurich combine, along with minority promoters Airports Authority of India and the state-owned Karnataka State Industrial Investment Development Corporation, started construction of the airport on July 2, 2005. The State has contributed 4,000 acres at Devanahalli.

The access from the city on NH-7 is ready and the first overbridge over rail has come up. BIAL has taken up the ‘trumpet exchange’ or flyover to bring in commuters from either side of NH-7 into the airport site.

Kingfisher Airlines' Plans For BIAL.
Times of India Oct 21, 2007

Vijay Mallya’s Kingfisher Airlines is close to signing a deal with BIAL for setting up an MRO (maintenance, repair and overhaul) facility. Sources said Mallya will invest a huge sum of money for the development of the MRO as well as various other facilities at the BIAL airport. A senior UB official also confirmed the same.
"Kingfisher plans to establish a hangar facility at the new Bangalore airport to service its aircraft stationed in Bangalore. Contractual terms and conditions are confidential", is all that Stephan Widrig, chief commercial officer, BIAL, said when contacted. Earlier, TOI had reported that Kingfisher Airlines and Deccan (in which Mallya has a controlling stake of 46%) were in negotiations with Abu Dhabi-based Gulf Aircraft Maintenance (Gamco) for setting up a MRO facility at a cost between Rs 200 crore and Rs 400 crore.

Widrig said Kingfisher would have a large business and first class lounge at the new airport, including a Kingfisher Sports Bar in the public area of the international departure and an office complex as well as other support facilities for their operations out of Bangalore. Kingfisher has earlier told TOI that Bangalore would be its hub for both international as well as domestic traffic.

Kingfisher-Deccan operate over 70 flights out of Bangalore per day connecting over 30 cities across the country. According to the latest data on market share of domestic airlines in Bangalore by AAI (Airports Authority of India), Kingfisher-Deccan are clearly the leaders with a 37% market share followed by Jet Airways-JetLite at 27%, Air India (Air-India & Indian) at 13%, Spice Jet 11%, Indigo 10%, and GoAir and Paramount at 1% each.
According to Widrig, Jet Airways and Air India would also be pumping in money for various facilities.