BENGALURU: Bangalore International Airport Limited (BIAL) has been accorded environmental clearance by the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change to expand the passenger handling capacity at Kempegowda International Airport (KIA) to 114 million passengers per annum (MPPA) from the 55 MPPA cap and the cargo handling capacity from 1 million tonnes per annum (MTPA) to 1.4 MTPA.
With the possibility of the city having a second airport, this clearance will not immediately go towards building a third terminal at KIA , but instead upgrading the two terminals.
According to chief operating officer of BIAL Girish Nair, the next five years will see the proposed development reach its completion, with the airport already working at 80% of its capacity. In terms of passenger capacity, that would put the airport’s current passenger volume roughly at 44 MPPA. “We are now at almost 80% utilisation of our terminals. The West Asia crisis has tapered passenger volume, but that is temporary. There is a broader demand for long-term expansion,” Nair told TNIE.
The proposed expansion will not be exactly split between the two existing terminals of the airport. BIAL will be investing around $2 billion, which will go towards changes not only at the terminals, but also on the tarmac as well. “When Terminal 1 (T1) at KIA is fully refurbished, we are expected to gain 10 MPPA in volume there. The second phase of Terminal 2 (T2) will allow it to hold 20 MPPA more,” Nair said.
Passengers are expected to experience a better KIA, as aforementioned, on the tarmac as well. Nair revealed that construction of a taxiway on the west of the airport to connect the two runways is progressing as planned (as of now, the runways are connected only on the East), and is expected to finish within a few years. “What it essentially means is that circulation of aircraft on the tarmac will be faster and more efficient. With the average aircraft taxi time being lowered, airlines will save a lot of money in fuel and passengers will not have to sit in claustrophobic cabins for a long time,” Nair said.
Plans for a Terminal 3 (T3) is still part of BIAL’s master plan. But the focus is not on it now. It might take close to a decade to materialise, he said.