Bangalore, Hyderabad greenfield airports under lens

While there is a raging debate on the pace of upgradation of existing airports, the greenfield projects are too under scrutiny. Bangalore International Airport, which is India’s largest greenfield airport, is gearing up to launch operations on March 30, 2008.
The Hyderabad Airport, which will be operational on March 16, is commissioned to handle 12 million passengers.
Both these projects are, however, plagued with their own set of problems. For instance, the accessibility to the Banglaore airport is a big concern. The international airport is about 35 km from the CBD and at present is linked only with NH 7. The state government is working on a peripheral ring road, a high speed rail link and an express highway to improve the connectivity to the much-awaited airport.
The Hyderabad Airport is not far behind. It is also coming up with a free-shuttle bus, which will pick and drop the passengers from the terminal to the airport centre.
Another major concern for passengers is the user development fee. BIAL has sent a proposal to the Union civil aviation ministry seeking to levy use a development fee of Rs 675 on outgoing domestic travellers and Rs 955 on international travellers.
As opposed to this, the upcoming GMR Hyderabad International airport has not proposed any user fee.
Besides this user fee, a passenger will easily end up shelling out around Rs 800-1,000 to reach the airport.
27/01/08 Urvashi Jha/Economic Times

To Read the News in full at Source, Click the Headline

Categories: Airports Jan 2008, New Jan 2008