HAL Bangalore International Airport - Airport Upgrades

Airport Upgrades

Ongoing talks have taken place since the early 1990s for upgrading Bangalore's airport to international standards and building a new airport at Devenahalli. The unprecedented growth of private low cost air carriers since 2003 has left the authorities with logistical nightmares in the terminal in supporting day to day operations. Low cost carriers like Deccan Aviation have made Bangalore a major hub, with flights connecting to smaller cities like Mangalore and Belgaum. The Bangalore-Mumbai route is growing into the second busiest in the country, second only to Mumbai-Delhi.

HAL intends to make optimal utilisation of the resources at the airport after the civilian operations shift to the upcoming international airport at Devanahalli on the outskirts of the city in mid-2008, HAL chairman told reporters;

Apart from maintaining the airport for our test flights, military operations and VIP flights, we intend to set up an MRO facility to service the growing number of civilian aircraft, operated by public and private airlines in the domestic and international sectors,...

There are varied reports about HAL's plans for maintenance, repair and operations (MRO) at the airport. HAL was said to be close to signing an agreement with Pratt & Whitney Canada to launch a MRO at the airport. Earlier the foreign company had signed long term agreements with Deccan and Kingfisher Airlines for engine maintenance. The plan was to set up an MRO base for 150 engines by mid-07 and start with 50 per year. HAL are also reportedly in dialogues with Airbus as well as ATR for setting up an MRO facility at the airport. Once the upcoming international airport in Devanahalli becomes operational, HAL plans to use the existing airport for certification of HAL's own aircraft too.

Completely building a new airport (as opposed to upgrading the current HAL airport) eventually won out with the new Bangalore International Airport Limited finally being realized. Construction of the new airport began on 2 July 2005 and commercial operation began from 23 May 2008. Originally, this airport was to be able to handle 4-5 million passengers annually, with a single runway (13,517 ft (4,120 m) in length). However, given the sharp increase in passenger traffic in 2005, the airport has been redesigned so that its terminals will be able to handle 12 million passengers in the first phase. The cost of this change is estimated at Rs 4.5 billion and is funded by the private consortium.