Ministry to abide by contract, close old airport by month-end

New Delhi / Bangalore: The Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd or HAL-run international airport at Bangalore, which has handled air traffic for nearly three decades at India’s tech capital, will be shuttered for scheduled commercial flights as a new international airport on the outskirts of the city at Devanahalli starts operations by the end of this month.
The decision, subject to approval from the country’s courts, comes a fortnight after the civil aviation ministry asked Bangalore International Airport Ltd, or Bial, a Siemens AG-led company developing the new airport, to allow the HAL-run airport to remain open for short-haul flights for a year until there are better roads to the city from the new airport, 35km away.
Bial turned down that proposal at a Monday meeting in the capital that was attended by senior Karnataka government officials, besides representatives from the aviation ministry. “They are not agreeable. In terms of the contractual and legal (issues) involved, they do not think it is economically feasible to operate old airport (along with the new one),” civil aviation secretary Ashok Chawla told reporters after the meeting.
12/05/08 Tarun Shukla and K. Raghu/Livemint

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Categories: Airports May 2008, New May 2008