New Delhi, Sep 7 (IANS): The International Air Transport Association (IATA) and the Bangalore International Airport Limited (BIAL) on Wednesday signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to enhance cooperation in airport operations.

The agreement is the first of its kind that the association has signed with an Indian airport. According to the MoU, IATA and BIAL would implement trials of new technologies and processes, and testing concepts at the international airport.

"This will place BIAL in the forefront of airport operations. These trials will ensure that global best practice solutions can be appropriately adapted to the Indian environment, and will provide guidance for rolling out the implementation to other Indian airports," said IATA's Regional Vice President for Asia Pacific Conrad Clifford.

He said India's passenger traffic by 2035 is forecast to exceed 400 million passengers, more than double that of today. The industry will support 19 million jobs and $172 billion of India's GDP.

"But for this potential to become reality, India's airports need to have the necessary infrastructure capacity while implementing efficient processes that embrace the latest technologies," said Clifford, adding that the association is looking forward to a similar cooperation with other like-minded airports in India.

The IATA fast travel initiative, passenger facilitation programme and smart security are among the initiatives being considered as part of the MoU, a statement said.

The MoU was signed by Clifford and BIAL's President for airport operations Hari Marar.