BENGALURU: Flyers and airport employees faced inconvenience at the Rs 5,000-crore Terminal 2 of Kempegowda International Airport (KIA) on Monday owing to heavy rain. All international operations were shifted to Terminal 2 on September 12. Leaking roof of the terminal’s Middle Level had rainwater on the floor.
Airport sources confirmed waterlogging at the terminal because of heavy rain. A source said, “The airport has three levels, the Ground, Level 1 and Level 2. With Level 1 impacted, water entered the offices of Indigo, Vistara and ground handling firm Celebi Aviation. This led to chaos there for some time.”
The sources said that one portion of the terminal was affected. “The problem was rectified the following day. Heavy rain on Tuesday did not cause any problem,” they added.
A Bangalorean @arjunvis, who was upset as his Emirates flight (EK 566) was made to hover over the airport on Monday and not allowed to land, posted on x: “By the way the airport looks like a puddle filled mess. Clearly not prospered for rain to land flights and keep the airport dry. Poor first impressions for visitors.”
In an earlier post, he said, “@BLRAirport a little rain and you guys can’t permit planes to land and on top of that not letting us deplane. What’s going on guys for all the claims of being an international airport @emirates terrible.”
The aesthetics of the airport earns wholesome praise from many visitors with actor R Madhavan lauding its exotic and efficient infrastructure recently. It may be recalled that the classy Sir M Visvesvaraya railway terminal at Baiyappanahalli, modelled on the KIA, had its roof leaking with the ceiling giving away during rain on May 30.