Mangalore: New Dimension to Bajpe Airport

• Duty-free Shop, Two Conveyor Belts Highlights of the New Arrival Hall

Report and pics by Viju Mangalore

Mangalore, Apr 1: This is not an April Fool joke, but an interesting fact about Bajpe Airport, which has seen tremendous growth during the last one year. All credit is to be given to the dynamic airport director M R Vasudeva.

Within a span of six months, now 9 international flights per week land on Mangalore soil which has given the much-needed boost to the airport. No doubt, Mangalore is one of the fastest growing cities in India, thanks to major development projects like the upgradation of the airport to international status and projects like ONGC, Nagarjuna and Special Economic Zone.

Now the good news for all domestic and international flight passengers at Bajpe Airport is the new arrival hall of 4000 sq ft area which is getting ready to operate by April end or early May 2007. The specialty of the new arrival hall will be a Duty-free Shop and two conveyor belts for the benefit of domestic and international passengers separately.

Apart from this, there will be a separate arrival gate for International passengers and separate customs and immigration halls.

Mangalore is on a development spree and the Bajpe airport is not lagging behind. The progress here in terms of increase in air traffic, infrastructure facility, upgradation and services is indeed a positive sign that trade, commerce and tourism will bloom shortly.

The work on the new terminal building (arrival hall) for Mangalore airport is progressing smoothly. The construction work began in October 2006 and has gained momentum and is nearing completion. The Rs 4.5-crore project will have a passenger handling facility which will be double the size of the present terminal.

Speaking exclusively to Daijiworld, airport director M R Vasudeva said that the space in the new arrival hall will be a boon to both domestic and international flight passengers.

The growth of Mangalore airport has been tremendous. The airport currently handles around 600 flights every month which is double the number handled last year.

Passenger traffic growth in January 2006 onwards has undergone a sea change. Around 2.77 lac passengers were handled in January 2006 and this doubled by January 2007 (5.8 lac).

The traffic growth, Vasudeva said, was due to increased operation of domestic and international aircraft. International aircraft have increased from 3 flights to 9 flights per week and domestic flights have increased to 10 flights per day.

Airport director Vasudeva briefing the Daijiworld team

The new arrival hall which will be ready by the end of April or first week of May will handle 250 passengers.

In case of further growth in air traffic, Vasudeva said, the new terminal will cater to international passengers and the existing will cater to domestic passengers. A new security hold area on the first floor of the present terminal building has been set up.

With the operation of the new arrival hall, the airport will be able to handle the passengers for the coming two to three years period. By the end of three years it plans to construct an integrated terminal building which will cut short the distance to Mangalore city by 8 kms. There is a plan to build three aero bridges. With this the airport will be equipped to handle around 500 passengers.

Bajpe Airport will soon stand along with India's topmost airports, as the existing terminal in the airport will be used for departures and the new hall under construction will be used exclusively for arrivals.
 

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