New terminal ready, but fully operational only by October

29 August 2009

The new terminal at the Bajpe airport here, housing both international as well as domestic terminals, is likely to be inaugurated by Civil Aviation minister Prafful Patel on September 15.

But, the new facility, built at a cost of Rs 147 crore, will be opened for both domestic and international traffic only in October as various systems like customs, immigration, terminal management, will not be operational at the time of the inauguration.

Airport director Chandran told TOI, "The September 15 deadline was tentative, but they were working towards that date. Sources said the date has not been officially confirmed by the Airport Authority of India, New Delhi or the Union Civil Aviation Ministry, but the date doing rounds as the Mysore Airport was also scheduled to be inaugurated on that day itself. The date was mentioned by Patel when chief minister B S Yeddyurappa met him at New Delhi recently.

The Mysore airport is awaiting clearance from the Director General of Civil Aviation (DGCA). "Once that comes through, it is certain that both the functions would be held on the same day for convenience sake, the source added.

On the same day of the inauguration, laying of the foundation stone for the Air Traffic Services (ATS) Complex will also be laid at the Bajpe Customs airport. This complex, for which in principle approval has been given, is still on the drawing board stage.

As far as the new terminal is concerned, the new terminal, which will have two aerobridges, is four times larger than the existing terminal at Bajpe. While the old terminal is 4,000 sq mt, the new terminal is 18,200 sq mt. There is space to park 300 cars at the new terminal.

The new terminal can handle more than a thousand international and domestic arrivals / departures at any given point of time, as opposed to the old terminal which is constrained to handle the existing load of about 600 passengers.

Also, the new road to Kenjaru terminal, which will reduce the distance by over eight km is also complete. The link road is state government's infrastructure dole to the airport expansion project. The road project, estimated at Rs 8.89 crore, included strengthening of the existing PWD road of 1.125 km and constructing new road of 900 metre length from Kenjar village junction to new Bajpe airport terminus.
stanly.pinto@timesgroup.com

source times of india