Kempegowda International Airport

Bengaluru International Airport ಬೆಂಗಳೂರು ಅಂತಾರಾಷ್ಟ್ರೀಯ ವಿಮಾನ ನಿಲ್ದಾಣ Devanahalli Airport
File:Bengaluru Airport Logo.svg
Bengaluru Airport terminal building
IATA: BLR ICAO: VOBL
Summary
Airport type	Public
Owner/Operator	Bengaluru International Airport Limited (BIAL)
Serves	Bengaluru
Location	Devanahalli, Karnataka, India
Hub for	Blue Dart Aviation Deccan Aviation Kingfisher Airlines
Elevation AMSL	915 m / 3,002 ft
Coordinates	13°11′56″N 077°42′20″E
Website	www.bengaluruairport.com
Runways
Direction Length Surface m ft 09/27 4,000 13,123 Asphalt
Sources: AIP from the Airports Authority of India

Bengaluru International Airport (Template:Lang-kn) (IATA: BLR, ICAO: VOBL) is an international airport serving the city of Bengaluru (Bangalore), Karnataka, India. The airport is located 4 km (2.5 mi) south of Devanahalli and is 40 km (25 mi) from the central business district of Bengaluru (30 km (19 mi) from the Bangalore City Railway Station) and covers 4,000 acres (1,600 ha). It replaced the old HAL Bangalore International Airport. Construction of the airport began in July 2005, after a decade long postponement. It was expected to be inaugurated on 30 March 2008 but due to delays in air traffic control (ATC) services, it started its operations on the night of 23 May 2008, just before midnight. The airport handled about 9.3 million passengers and had air traffic movements (ATM) of about 280 per day in the year 2009. The airport is expected to handle 17 million passengers in the year 2015.The airport is host to 9 domestic airlines and 19 international airlines connecting the city to about 50 destinations across India and the world.

Construction

BLR Airport under construction

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 also being processed for a direct rail service from Bengaluru 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, with a 3 ft (0.91 m) boundary wall, as construction moves ahead.

A new expressway was planned to connect the airport to the city's Ring Road. The expressway, expected to be a tolled road, would begin at Hennur on the Outer Ring Road. However the state government, citing a study report of the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI), has told the Karnataka High Court that the proposed super expressway connecting the Outer Ring Road and Bengaluru International Airport is not feasible. After many delays and confusions with the press, the airport was finally inaugurated on 23 May 2008 when a Jet Airways flight from Mumbai landed here . Also, minutes later an Air India flight to Singapore left Bengaluru International Airport, making it the first ever take-off from the airport.

Airport specifications

Terminal

The curbside at BIA

BIA Terminal building at night

Domestic security check area

Check-in counters in the main hall

Kingfisher Airlines and Air India flights seen from onboard Sri Lankan Airlines flight at BIA

File:Bangalore airport highway.png

Bangalore Access Highway

File:Bangalore airport highway2.png

Bangalore Access Highway

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 located 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 71,000 m² (760,000 sq ft) and the terminal building is designed to accommodate 3,000 passengers at peak hour. The design reflects the best industry practice and caters for 24-hour-operations, under all weather conditions. The airport well meets the standards set by the Airports Authority of India (AAI), the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) and the International Air Transport Association (IATA)..

The airport can handle 11 million people per annum with 27 aircraft movements per hour and an estimated 550 movements in May 2008. At its peak, it can handle 720 aircraft movements in a day.

Common Use Terminal Equipment (CUTE) enabled check-in counters: 54 and 20 self check in counters.

The airport has 20 gates, 8 aero-bridges, including one double arm and 19 remote bus bays. There are a total of 42 aircraft stands, all of which have a fuelling pit. This is the first time in Indian airports that the parking stands have the fuelling 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 cars in front of the terminal building at the ground level has been developed for the convenience of passengers and visitors to the airport.

Runway

The airport has one runway that can accommodate all types of aircraft. There are plans to build a second runway when the annual traffic of the airport reaches 18 million passengers per year which is currently estimated to reach around 2013-2014.

Retail and duty free

The international departure section is one of the largest duty free outlets in India, a duty free area for arrivals is also provided. The domestic departure areas also has retail outlets.

Domestic lounges

Domestic departure lounges are provided by:

• Air India
• Jet Airways
• Kingfisher Airlines

International lounges

The airport has three international departure lounges:

• Kingfisher Lounge
• Oberoi Lounge
• The Leela

Hospitality

A five star 321-room hotel is under construction as part of the airport complex, opposite the main terminal building. This hotel, owned and to be operated jointly by Larsen & Toubro and East India Hotels Limited under the Trident brand, is scheduled for opening in June 2010.

Columbia Asia Hospitals operates a clinic at the airport and also provides medical care in case of an emergency.

Transport to the airport

As the new airport is 40 km (25 mi) outside the city, a new high-speed rail link has been approved to connect the city to the airport.

Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation runs twelve bus routes from as many locations in the city to connect to the new airport. In February 2010, it was announced that a luxury bus service will be set up from various locations in Bangalore to the BIA. Air Conditioned Taxi services to the BIA is also available.

Renaming

On the 27th of February, 2009, the Government of Karnataka forwarded the proposal of renaming the airport after the city's founder Kempe Gowda to the central government. The Karnataka arm of the Congress also sent a letter to the central government requesting that the airport be renamed to Kempe Gowda International Airport.

Current Scenario

On 19 January 2010 BIAL embarked on expansion plan and fast tracked construction of new state of the art terminal building.

Board reconstituted following acquisition of 29 % stake by GVK"

The Board of Directors of the Bangalore International Airport Limited (BIAL) has been reconstituted with the induction of three new members. At the board meeting held today Mr. GV Krishna Reddy, Mrs. Indira K Reddy and Mr. GV Sanjay Reddy were appointed as the new directors on the board. Reconstitution of the BIAL Board of Directors follows the acquisition of 29% stake in the company by GVK Power and Infrastructure Ltd. The reconstituted Board of Directors today reviewed the Master Plan for expansion of the Bengaluru International Airport and decided on the following:

1) The process to start construction of a brand new terminal building T2 will be initiated on an immediate basis. The first phase of terminal T2 will cater to passenger traffic of 15 million per annum. The terminal will be further expanded in the next phase to eventually handle 36 million passengers per annum. Associated airside infrastructure will also be expanded to cater to the new terminal. Design for the new terminal building will be selected through a global bidding process involving world’s leading architects.

2) To cater to the growth in passenger traffic, the existing terminal building will be expanded. Global architectural firm HOK has been appointed to design the expansion. This added development will take the annual capacity of the existing terminal to 15 million passengers annually.

3) A comprehensive landscaping master plan will be undertaken on the city side leading up to the airport to enhance passenger experience and do justice to Bangalore’s reputation of being a ‘Garden City.’

Source: BIAL Media Release

Airlines and destinations

Airlines	Destinations
Air Arabia	Sharjah
AirAsia	Kuala Lumpur
Air China	Chengdu, Shanghai-Pudong
Air France	Paris-Charles de Gaulle
Air India	Mumbai, Singapore
Air India Regional	Chennai, Hyderabad, Nagpur
Air Mauritius	Mauritius
British Airways	London-Heathrow
Dragonair	Hong Kong
Emirates	Dubai
GoAir	Ahmedabad, Delhi, Kochi, Mumbai
Indian Airlines	Chennai, Delhi, Goa, Hyderabad, Kochi, Kolkata, Mumbai, Pune, Trivandrum
Indian Airlines	Dubai, Malé, Muscat
IndiGo	Ahmedabad, Bhubaneswar, Chennai, Delhi, Hyderabad, Jaipur, Kochi, Kolkata, Lucknow, Mumbai, Patna, Pune, Vadodara
Jet Airways	Ahmedabad , Chennai, Coimbatore, Delhi, Goa, Hyderabad, Kochi, Kolkata, Mangalore, Mumbai, Pune, Trivandrum
JetLite	Delhi, Kolkata, Mumbai
Kingfisher Airlines	Agatti, Belgaum, Bhubaneswar, Chandigarh, Chennai Coimbatore, Delhi, Dubai, Goa, Hubballi([Dharwad] Dist), Hyderabad, Indore, Jaipur, Kolkata, Kochi, Kozhikode, Lucknow, Madurai, Mangaluru, Mumbai, Nagpur, Pune, Rajahmundry, Tirupati, Trivandrum, Vijayawada, Visakhapatnam
Lufthansa	Frankfurt
Malaysia Airlines	Kuala Lumpur
Oman Air	Muscat
Paramount Airways	Chennai, Hyderabad, Visakhapatam
Qatar Airways	Doha
Saudi Arabian Airlines	Dammam, Jeddah, Riyadh
SilkAir	Singapore
Singapore Airlines	Singapore
SpiceJet	Ahmedabad, Delhi, Guwahati, Hyderabad, Jaipur, Kolkata, Mumbai, Pune, Srinagar
SriLankan Airlines	Colombo
Thai Airways International	Bangkok-Suvarnabhumi
Tiger Airways	Singapore

Cargo airlines

Airlines	Destinations
Air France Cargo	Paris-Charles de Gaulle
Air India Cargo	Hyderabad, Delhi, Goa, Ahmedabad, Kozhikode, Kochi, Trivandrum, Mumbai, Chennai, Lucknow, Kolkata, Dammam, Frankfurt
Blue Dart Aviation	Chennai, Hyderabad, Mumbai, Delhi
British Airways World Cargo	London-Heathrow
Emirates SkyCargo	Dubai
Etihad Crystal Cargo	Abu Dhabi
Lufthansa Cargo	Frankfurt
MASkargo	Kuala Lumpur
Qatar Airways Cargo	Doha
Singapore Airlines Cargo	Singapore, Amsterdam
SriLankan Cargo	Colombo
Thai Airways Cargo	Bangkok-Suvarnabhumi

Awards and honours

• Routes Asia Airport Marketing Award
• Best Emerging Airport-Indian-Sub-Continent at the Emerging Markets Airports Awards 2010, Dubai

References

 This article incorporates public domain material from the Air Force Historical Research Agency

External links

• Official site
• BMTC Airport Shuttle Bus Services