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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 terminal has a modular design and can be expanded as and when required.
We know from news reports, and BIAL’s own reports, that 448 flights per day are planned for the summer schedule (effective March 31, 2008), up from the current 320~330 flights at the HAL airport. This represents a growth of 35.75% on airport opening day. We also know from current AAI records that the 330 flights per day at HAL airport is resulting in 10.5 million passengers per year. Simple extrapolation shows that the 448 flights will result in 14.25 million passengers from the airport opening day itself.
So my question to Mr. Brunner and all the stakeholders of BIAL (Siemens, L&T, Zurich Airport, AAI and KSIIDC) is where do you plan to put the additional 2.25 million passengers ? Surely BIAL does not have any means of expanding a terminal overnight.
