Kempegowda International Airport
Kempegowda International Airport | |||||||||||
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| File:Bengaluru Airport Logo.svg | |||||||||||
| Summary | |||||||||||
| Airport type | Public | ||||||||||
| Owner/Operator | Bangalore International Airport Limited (BIAL) | ||||||||||
| Serves | Bengaluru | ||||||||||
| Location | Devanahalli, Karnataka, India | ||||||||||
| Opened | 23 May 2008 | ||||||||||
| Hub for | |||||||||||
| Elevation AMSL | 915 m / 3,002 ft | ||||||||||
| Coordinates | 13°11′56″N 077°42′20″E / 13.19889°N 77.70556°E | ||||||||||
| Website | www.bengaluruairport.com | ||||||||||
| Runways | |||||||||||
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| Statistics (Apr '12 – Mar '13) | |||||||||||
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Kempegowda International Airport (IATA: BLR, ICAO: VOBL) is an international airport serving the Indian city of Bangalore. It is 4 kilometres (2.5 mi) south of Devanahalli and is 40 kilometres (25 mi) from the central business district of Bangalore, (30 kilometres (19 mi) from the Bangalore City Railway Station[3]) and covers 4,750 acres (1,920 ha).[4] It replaced the HAL airport. For the financial year 2011–12, it is the third busiest airport in the country in overall passenger traffic (12.69 million) after Delhi and Mumbai and fourth busiest in international passenger traffic.[5] It was awarded "India's best airport" for the year 2011 by the survey conducted by Skytrax.
Kempegowda International Airport handled about 12.6 million passengers and had air traffic movements (ATM) of about 330 per day in 2011.[6] The airport is expected to handle 18 million passengers in 2015. It is host to 10 domestic airlines and 21 international airlines connecting the city to about 50 destinations across India and rest of the world. It served as a hub for debt-ridden Kingfisher Airlines until 20 October 2012 and serves as a focus city for Jet Airways, JetLite, IndiGo, SpiceJet, and GoAir. Former Air Deccan also had its base at BIA.
Construction
The airport project started as a public-private joint venture between Germany's Siemens Project Ventures GmbH, Government of Karnataka and Airports Authority of India (AAI).[7] Construction began in July 2005, after a decade long postponement. The new airport was originally planned to accommodate 3.5 million passengers a year, but this was redesigned to handle 12 million passengers per year. The redesign resulted in an increase in the size of the terminal, number of aircraft stands, new taxiway layouts and supporting infrastructure.
A plan is being processed for a direct rail service from Bangalore Cantonment Railway Station to the Basement Rail terminal at the airport. Access on the National Highway 7 has been widened to a six-lane expressway.
Kempegowda International Airport was expected to be inaugurated on 30 March 2008, but due to delays in air traffic control (ATC) services, it was finally inaugurated on 23 May 2008 just before midnight when a Jet Airways flight from Mumbai landed. Minutes later an Indian flight to Singapore left Bangalore International Airport, making it the first take-off.
As a truly inclusive airport BIAL invited citizens of Bengaluru to share their desires for their airport, with a commitment to translating ideas into reality. Kempegowda International Airport, Bengaluru is the first airport in the country to seek public opinion on what they want at their airport through the widely appreciated city connects campaign, „Smile Bengaluru‟. True to a city that is global in reach, the campaign received a phenomenal response, resulting in the enhanced Terminal. In line with BIAL's commitment to the community, suggestions received through the campaign from stakeholders have been implemented in the Terminal and citizens can now witness their recommendations in reality. The Terminal not only reflects the city‟s dreams, but also the culture, ethos and landscape of the state of Karnataka. At the same time, the Terminal is on par with the best in the world in terms of facilities, with double the existing area, facilities to host some of the largest aircraft, and world-class technologies.
Inspired by a smile, the roof is an aerodynamic marvel. It is the unifying element for the new and existing facilities, bringing both together as one composition. Designed by HOK, along with several leading international architects, planners, urban designers, landscape architects & engineering consultants, the Terminal sports an enhanced and modern design elevation. The architectural concept is based on the idea of a dramatic swooping and curving roof, under which the building sits. It also forms a dramatic canopy to the main entrance, offering passengers and public a giant covered area, protected from the weather. The undulating wave-form provides the Terminal with greater physical presence.
Description
Passenger terminal
The passenger terminal is a single, fully air conditioned, four-level building capable of accommodating international and domestic operations. The basement houses the retail storage, rest areas and services. The arrival and departure areas are separated vertically with a modern, simple, straight-ahead flow system. The domestic and international departure lounges and the majority of the retail outlets are on level 2 (first floor). The check-in facilities and baggage reclaim are located on level 1 (ground floor). The terminal is designed for ease of operation and minimum maintenance.
The total floor area is approximately 170,000 m2 (1,800,000 sq ft); the terminal building is designed to accommodate 5,400 passengers at peak hour. The design reflects the best industry practice and caters for 24-hour operations, under all weather conditions. Kempegowda International Airport meets the standards set by the Airports Authority of India (AAI), the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) and the International Air Transport Association (IATA).[4]
The airport can handle 20 million people per annum with 35 aircraft movements per hour and an estimated 576 movements. At its peak, it can handle 720 aircraft movements in a day.
There are Common Use Terminal Equipment (CUTE) enabled check-in counters: 90 and 25 self check-in counters.
The airport has 38 gates, 20 aero-bridges, including three double arm, and 18 remote bus bays. There are 45 aircraft stands, all of which have a fueling pit. This is the first time in Indian airports that the parking stands have fueling pits. The underground pits helps the aircraft to fuel from the stand itself.
In the first phase of development, a car park for 2,000 vehicles in front of the terminal building at the ground level has been developed for the convenience of passengers and visitors.
Hajj terminal
Bangalore International Airport has an exclusive terminal for Hajj pilgrims. This terminal can handle up to 600 passengers at a time. Designated prayer rooms for men and women and separate hot water facilities for Wadu (cleansing before prayers) are available in the terminal.[8]
Runway
Kempegowda International Airport has one runway, 09/27, 4,120 m × 60 m (13,517 ft × 197 ft), that can accommodate all types of aircraft. There are plans to build a second runway when the annual traffic reaches 18 million passengers per year which it is currently estimated to reach around 2013–2014.
Retail services and lounges
As well as a range of retail outlets the airport has dedicated departure lounges:[9]
- Domestic departure lounges are provided by
- International departure lounges include
On 21 January 2011, a new VIP departure and arrival lounge was inaugurated. One lounge at level one of the terminal will serve departing domestic and international dignitaries and the other on the ground floor will serve arriving dignitaries.[8]
Aviation fuel services
The airport has a fuel farm and hydrant system: a 36 kilometres (22 mi) fuel pipeline was commissioned in October 2009 by Indian Oil from Devanagonthi to the airport to reduce the need to transport jet fuel to the airport.[9]
Cargo village
The cargo village was inaugurated on 9 December 2009. It houses 120 freight forwarders and 80 custom house agents and can accommodate parking of nearly 80 trucks. There are two cargo terminals in the village. One is operated by Menzies Aviation Bobba Pvt Ltd. This terminal has an initial capacity to handle 150,000 metric tons (170,000 short tons) of cargo. The other terminal is operated by Air India SATS Joint Venture consortium. This terminal has a two-floor warehouse with a capacity of 200,000 metric tons (220,000 short tons).
Airlines and destinations
Passenger airlines
Cargo airlines
Ownership
| External videos | |
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 Terminal 1 expansion video |
BIAL is a Public Limited Company under the Companies Act formed to build, own and operate Bangalore International Airport. BIAL has been given rights by the Government of India to develop, design, finance, operate and manage the airport for 30 years from the date of commencement of commercial flight operations. It has an option to extend the right for an additional 30 years.[12] Private promoters hold a 74% (GVK 43%, Siemens Project Ventures GmbH 26%, and Unique Zurich 5%) stake in BIAL while the government holds the remaining 26% (Karnataka State Industrial Investment and Development Corporation 13% and Airport Authority of India 13%).[13][14]
Renaming
On 27 February 2009, the Government of Karnataka forwarded the proposal to the central government to rename the airport after the city's founder, Kempe Gowda I. In 2011, the state government sent another proposal to the central government to name the airport after Kempegowda.[15] In 2012, the central government accepted the state government's proposal to name the airport after Kempegowda.[16] On 18 July 2013, the Union Cabinet formally approved the name change.[17] Finally, the airport was officially renamed on December 14, 2013. Along with the renaming, new terminal 1A was inaugurated on the same occasion.[18]
2010 airport expansion plans
 | This section needs to be updated. (January 2014) |
On 19 January 2010, BIAL embarked on an expansion plan and fast tracked construction of a new state-of-the-art terminal building.[19]
- The first phase of construction of the new terminal is expected to cater to passenger traffic of about 15 million per year. There are plans to expand the new terminal to cater to 36 million passengers per year.[20]
- The existing terminal would be expanded to cater to 17 million passengers per year. Work on the expansion began on 6 June 2011.[8]
- The expansion would also increase the number of check-in counters and the seating capacity at the waiting areas. Once done, Terminal 1 would sport a brand new look and will be capable of handling the A380 aircraft.[8][21]
- To reduce the number of flight delays due to fog it is proposed that the runway will be upgraded to Category III B standard. This upgrading will be done when the second runway will be constructed (along with Terminal 2).
Runway repair work
In January 2012, BIAL announced that the airport would remain fully closed to all flight operations from 11 March until 3 April 2012 between 10:30 and 17:30 IST (05:00 UTC to 12:00 UTC) during which the top layer of its only runway was completely replaced. Following this initial phase, the runway was partly closed during phases 2 and 3 until 1 May.[22][23]
Connectivity
Road
Taxi services are available to and from the airport.[24] As an alternative to taxis, passengers can use car rental services.[25]
Auto rickshaws are not allowed beyond the trumpet interchange leading to the airport, but passengers can get dropped off at the trumpet interchange by an auto rickshaw and then use an airport shuttle bus from the interchange.[26]
Shuttle service provided by the Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation (BMTC), connects parts of the city to the airport. This service is known as Vayu Vajra. BMTC runs nine routes using its fleet of Green Volvo buses. These buses make 251 trips in a day. Vayu Vajra is a 24/7 service. All Vayu Vajra services have route numbers designated with a KIAS prefix.[27][28]
Proposed high speed rail link
As the airport is 40 kilometres (25 mi) outside the city, a new high-speed rail link has been approved to connect it to the city.[29] The high-speed rail link would be integrated with the Bangalore Metro and would cover a distance of 33 kilometres (21 mi) with four stations: Cubbon Road (Terminal Station), Hebbal, Yelahanka, and Bangalore International Airport (Terminal Station).[30] The project is expected to cost ₹6,900 crore (US$830 million). Of the ₹6,900 crore (US$830 million), the State Government would contribute ₹532 crore (US$64 million) (mainly for land acquisition) while the Central Government would contribute ₹1,040 crore (US$120 million).[31]
Awards and honours
- Even though there was an economic slowdown, BIA managed to keep its traffic base and route network stable. It was hence awarded "The Routes Asia Airport Marketing Award" chosen among five others in the Indian subcontinent.[32]
- At the Emerging Markets Airports Awards 2010, held in Dubai, BIA was awarded "The Best Emerging Airport in Indian sub-continent."[33][34]
- It received a platinum certification from IATA in January 2010 for becoming "The first airport in India to be 100% Bar Coded Boarding Passes (BCBP) compliant."[8]
- At the CNBC AWAAZ Travel Awards 2010 held at Delhi, BIA was awarded "The Best Managed Airport in India."[35]
References
- ^ March 2013 Traffic Statistics
- ^ "Airports Authority of India". Aai.aero. Retrieved 22 October 2013.
- ^ Aerodrome Geographical and Administrative Data
- ^ a b BIA Phase 1
- ^ AAI traffic figures 2010–2011
- ^ "Airports Authority of India". Aai.aero. 20 April 2010. Retrieved 29 March 2013.
- ^ Siemens
- ^ a b c d e "BIA media releases". Retrieved 21 January 2011.
- ^ a b BIA airport partners
- ^ "2013 summer schedule". Aero Logic. Retrieved 13 August 2013.
- ^ QR Cargo to BLR
- ^ About BIA
- ^ "Share holders of BIAL". centerforaviation.com. 31 August 2010. Retrieved 22 January 2011.
- ^ "GVK becomes biggest stake holder". Times of India. 23 August 2011. Retrieved 6 October 2011.
- ^ "Govt to push Centre for 'Kempe Gowda' airport". Bangalore: Deccan Herald. 4 March 2011. Retrieved 6 April 2012.
- ^ "Centre accepts proposal to name Bengaluru International Airport after Kempegowda". Bangalore: The Economic Times. 6 April 2012. Retrieved 6 April 2012.
- ^ Bangalore airport named after city founder Kempe Gowda
- ^ "Bangalore Airport to be renamed Kempegowda International Airport on Dec 14 - The Times of India". Timesofindia.indiatimes.com. 24 November 2013. Retrieved 1 March 2014.
- ^ T1 expansion images
- ^ "BIAL to fast track new terminal building". Business Standard. 20 January 2010. Retrieved 17 November 2012.
- ^ "BIA hits expansion button". Times of India. 30 July 2010.
- ^ Bangalore runway surface failure
- ^ "No flights at BIA for 7 hrs from today". Bangalore: The Times of India. 11 March 2012. Retrieved 11 March 2012.
- ^ Taxis to the airport
- ^ Car rentals to the airport
- ^ Shuttle buses from trumpet interchange to the airport
- ^ "BMTC bus services for Bangalore Airport". BMTCinfo.com.
- ^ Bus services to the airport
- ^ "High-speed rail to BIA gets Govt nod". Times of India. 22 June 2009.
- ^ Rail link to BIA
- ^ "High speed rail-link for BIA". The Hindu. 27 April 2010. Retrieved 30 November 2010.
- ^ "Bangalore International airport bags Asian award". Kuwait Samachar. 1 April 2009.
- ^ "Inaugural Emerging Markets Airports Award". Zawya.com. 28 April 2010.
- ^ "BIA Wins Best Emerging Airport Award". The Hindu. 30 April 2010. Retrieved 27 December 2010.
- ^ "BIA bags "The Best Managed Airport Award". mybangalore.com. 13 September 2010. Retrieved 29 November 2010.
This article incorporates public domain material from the Air Force Historical Research Agency
External links
