The BIAL consortium, promoters of the new Bengaluru International Airport (BIA), have a strong plan to make their airport a major aviation hub, for domestic and international airlines. Its strongest competition is coming from the GMR promoted Rajiv Gandhi International Airport (RGIA) in Hyderabad. Unfortunately for BIAL, successive governments in Karnataka are addicted to oil, or at least the revenues …

On May 5, 2008, the Indian Government finally approved the Airport Economic Regulatory Authority (AERA) Bill, and passed it to the Parliament of India. This bill has been languishing since its introduction on September 5, 2007, by the Civil Aviation Minister Shri Praful Patel. Till now, almost all airports in India were controlled and operated by the Airports Authority of …

From TravelBizMonitor.comBy Krupa Vora| Mumbai After the recent announcement of starting flights to Kozhikode by June 15, 2008, Qatar Airways is now eyeing Bangalore as their destination in India. The airline is currently evaluating the feasibility of the route (Doha-Bangalore) and will apply for passenger operations once the new Bangalore International Airport is operational. “While the User Development Fee (UDF) …