HAL Airport cant fill in for BIA slots

Bangalore: With commercial operations virtually ruled out at the new Bengaluru International Airport (BIA) for at least a month after March 30, the Ministry of Civil Aviation has asked the existing HAL Airport to handle the flights till the new aero-drome opens.
But there is a hitch: The ministry has been reportedly told that the existing airport cannot take the additional flights planned by various airlines once BIA kicks off.
The dramatic change in the much publicised launch date of the new airport has reportedly put several airlines in a fix even over their summer schedules that usually begins in the first week of April. Airlines generally operate about 20 per cent more flights under this schedule. This year, none of the airlines had applied for additional slots at the HAL Airport since they expected the BIA to be operational by March 30.
Most airlines had also banked on the Devanahalli airport’s higher capacity to increase the frequency of their existing flights to Bangalore and even launch additional flights to new destinations. The HAL Airport’s inability to handle these flights could jeopardise the airlines’ plans, highly placed sources told Deccan Herald.
13/03/08 Rasheed Kappan/Deccan Herald

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Categories: Airports Mar 2008, New Mar 2008