The Civil Aviation ministry today has requested BIAL the promoters of the new Bengaluru International Airport (BIA) to delay the launch of the airport to end May. Most likely it will be May 29, 2008. I offer my sincerest sympathies to the entire team at BIAL and its concessionaires. They have put in hard work to bring the project to …

This is the first story I have been able to publish on two major interests of mine, Aviation and Philanthropy. Please read the full story on the Rotary International website. If you would like to know more about Rotary in Bangalore, visit Rotary Club of Bangalore website.

This is an on-site assessment of the terminal and other passenger facilities at the new Bengaluru International Airport (BIA). It is quite well written, despite the title, which I do not fully agree with. Sniperz Blog: Bangalore Airport – Daylight Dacoity

Some readers of my blog have commented that my stand for keeping HAL airport in addition to Bengaluru International Airport (BIA) is not clearly articulated. So here goes. Thanks to the economic boom in India, the liberalisation of the aviation industry, and the efforts of the low cost carriers, who incidentally lead the global surge in aviation growth, Bangalore air …

Due to the contrarian views I put forth, readers of my blog may get the impression that I am Anti-BIAL. Nothing can be further from the truth. I am NOT against Bengaluru International Airport (BIA) at all. BIA is a required addition to Bangalore, and I have always admired the efforts put in by the whole team at the BIAL …

Bangalore’s commerce is finally going to get some relief, on the air cargo front. In the last few years, India, and Bangalore in particular, have arrived on the world stage. Air cargo has become an integral part of our daily lives. From cell Phones to car parts to computers, from garments to gold, from food to flowers, a wide variety …

Bengaluru International Airport (BIA), which will commence operations on May 11, 2008, is supposed to deliver us poor suffering Bangaloreans from the grind and capacity constraints we face at HAL airport. Given the growth of air traffic in Bangalore over the last few years, however, it will be WE, who will have to learn to fly at times suitable to …

The new Bengaluru International Airport (BIA) will be opened on May 11, 2008. The Election Commission may not have permitted any festivities and gala celebrations, but then, we Bangaloreans, are more interested in the long overdue additional capacity of the new airport. Various government agencies are busy upgrading or creating roads, to improve access to the airport for the expected …

Yesterday, a division bench of the Karnataka High Court directed the Union and State governments, and the Airports Authority of India to “explore the possibility of minimising, if not completely removing, the inconveniences and difficulties of the people”, and to immediately consider renegotiating the closure of the HAL Airport and levy of User Development Fee (UDF) on passengers, with the …

The persons who filed a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) in the High Court of Karnataka, have won a victory today. It may not be all what they wanted, but it is a victory. A bench of the High Court headed by the Honourable Chief Justice, today directed the Union of India and the Airports Authority of India to re-negotiate the …

“Akash rescues Indian air defence after delays hit Israeli Spyder missile purchase….”, screams a news headline from December 2007.The Akash surface to air missile was tested at test facilities of the Indian defence forces in Kolar, most likely, the full fledged test facility of the Electronics and Radar Development Establishment (LRDE). The Kolar test facility is identified in the airspace …

SHUTTING DOWN HAL AIRPORT BAILing out of BIAL? URL for this article http://citizenmatters.in/articles/view/88-BAILing-out-of-BIAL? Pressure on the government to keep Bangalore’s HAL airport running is beginning to gain ground. While much of the angst is over traffic snarls, the arguments are substantive and deserve attention. Even as the launch date of Bengaluru International Airport is nearing, a storm has risen over …

Are Private Airports in India Ready to Take Off? Published: April 03, 2008 in India Knowledge@Wharton http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/india/article.cfm;jsessionid=a830e6c0e14039162818?articleid=4274&CFID=8109838&CFTOKEN=33128394&jsessionid=a830e6c0e14039162818# http://www.mynews.in/fullstory.aspx?storyid=3808# On March 14, Sonia Gandhi, chairman of India’s ruling United Progressive Alliance government at the Center, inaugurated the new private sector airport at Hyderabad in the southern state of Andhra Pradesh. It was a false start, though: Several airlines, citing the need …

Hopefully, May 10th will be an event filled for Bangalore. During the day, we will have polls, and I pray that citizens of Karnataka will choose to replace the stagnation of coalitions, with one party, to lead the way forward. The night will bring to fruition a long running plan of having a new international airport. News reports indicate that …

Planning in the air— Sunita Narain http://www.downtoearth.org.in/editor.asp?foldername=20080415&filename=Editor&sec_id=2&sid=1 http://www.business-standard.com/common/news_article.php?leftnm=10&bKeyFlag=BO&autono=317853 India has added two more swanky symbols to bolster its first-world ambitions: the Rajiv Gandhi international airport in Hyderabad and the gleaming Bengaluru international airport in our software capital. But look beneath this glitzy façade and you will find another instance of development on the cheap. We refuse to admit that our …

At the turn of the century, back in 2001, the Managing Committee of the Greater Mysore Chamber of Industry, was host to a highly respected IAS officer. This officer had a background in transportation having served as the Managing Director of K.S.R.T.C. On deputation as a special officer, in the newly formed BIAL consortium, the IAS officer pitched the committee …

Bangalore has the distinction of being the first city in India to conceive and sign-up a private consortium for building an airport. It is another matter that Hyderabad gained from our and the BIAL consortium’s efforts and path breaking experiences, and pipped us to the “airport opening” finish line.However, our inexperience with Public Private Partnerships (PPP) is now coming home …

In The Times of India, Bangalore, on Tuesday, March 25, 2007, page 22 featured an article by Mr. Albert Brunner, CEO of BIAL. The editors of the paper issued a challenge at the end of the article to counter the arguments of Mr. Brunner. Accepting the challenge, I put forth my arguments to debunk certain myths created by BIAL and …

Depending on which stake holder of the the Bengaluru International Airport Limited (BIAL) consortium you listen to, the capacity of the new BIA airport is 9 million passengers (as per Airports Authority of India) to 12 million passengers (Mr. Albert Brunner). However, no one has claimed a capacity of over 12 million passengers. At best, we are informed, that the …

Bangalore airport delay: Carriers’ expansion plans hit air pocketAnirban Chowdhury / New Delhi March 31, 2008 http://www.business-standard.com/common/news_article.php?leftnm=3&subLeft=1&chklogin=N&autono=318466&tab=r The one-month delay in the opening of the new greenfield airport in Bangalore may affect the expansion plans of over a dozen-odd international as well as domestic and cargo carriers who were planning to introduce additional flights from the city. While the opening …