Blues galore at Bengaluru International Airport

Bangalore/New Delhi: Aerobridges don’t connect, ladders can’t be pushed in time to the aircraft, baggage takes one to two hours to show up and flight schedules are going haywire. Welcome to the new Bengaluru International Airport.
The operator and hundreds of airport users are discovering the harsh ground realities. It has not been smooth sailing for BIA after it began operations on May 24. The operator, Bangalore International Airport Ltd, plays it down as the teething troubles of a new airport.
If the old HAL airport that closed down on May 24 was notorious for congestion in the air which added to the flying time, the newly opened airport 40 km away has been dogged by ground-handling hitches – which, too, are causing flight delays. Half-a-dozen low cost carrier and full-service airlines that Business Line spoke to admitted this on condition of anonymity. BIAL has picked Air India-SATS and GlobeGround as its ground handlers.
A common complaint is that flights are getting delayed by 45-60 minutes and refuelling is getting hit; most flights touch Bangalore and ground delays here cascade down to rest of the schedules.
The CEO of a low-cost carrier (LCC) confirmed, “We have taken some delays due to ground handling. This, however, is not unusual when a new airport opens.” BIAL itself admitted that ground handling was a major problem. The situation was improving each day and, “We will iron out the teething problems within a week of operations”, it said.
28/05/08 Madhumathi D.S./Ashwini Phadnis/Business Line

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Categories: Airports May 2008