New Bangalore Airport Conducts Final Flight Trials
Pics by Aakash Poojari Polali
Daijiworld Media Network Bangalore
Bangalore, March 7 (IANS): Final flight trials were conducted Friday at the new international airport here that begins commercial operations March 30. Kingfisher Airlines, Air Deccan and Indian Air Force (IAF) participated in the trials to test the operational readiness of the greenfield airport at Devanahalli, around 37 km from the city.
The first flight to land on schedule at 10 am was Kingfisher’s Airbus from Mumbai with guests and media personnel onboard.
An IAF service aircraft and Deccan’s Airbus followed, which flew from the city airport on a 15-minute flight.
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“It is an overwhelming moment for us. We have effectively demonstrated our readiness to handle a real-life airport situation for both domestic and international flights,” Bangalore International Airport Ltd CEO Albert Brunner told reporters in the domestic terminal of the swanky airport.
Deccan’s flight was delayed at the city airport by over 45 minutes due to congestion.
To test preparedness of operational facilities, including ground support in real-time for international and domestic arrivals, Kingfisher parked its Airbus near the terminal for disembarking through the boarding bridge, while the Deccan flight landed in the remote parking bay.
The IAF aircraft participated in the exercise to test the 4,000-ft runaway and test the integrated airspace management system with the adjacent air force base at Yelahanka.
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The trials will continue till March 28, when Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will inaugurate the Rs.25-billion airport.
“The airport consortium (BIAL), Karnataka governor Rameshwar Thakur and civil aviation minister Praful Patel have invited the prime minister to unveil the new airport. We assume Singh will certainly come for the inaugural,” Brunner said.
Air India is scheduled to operate the first flight from the new airport in the wee hours of March 30 to Singapore, followed by other international and domestic airlines.
“As per the concession agreement, HAL airport will shut down from midnight of March 29. Aircraft scheduled to take-off after midnight will be landing at the new airport on arrival after 9-10 p.m.,” Brunner said.
Located on the east of Bangalore-Hyderabad national highway (NH7), the new airport will have parking place for about 2,000 cars, various auxiliary buildings, a fuel farm, rescue and fire fighting facilities, ground support equipment, airline support facilities, two major cargo warehouses and flight kitchens.
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Built on a public-private partnership (PPP) model, the airport will be operated by the consortium of Unique Zurich Airport, Siemens Projects Ventures and Larson and Toubro.
The state government and Airport Authority of India (AAI) are the two other partners