BENGALURU: The regulatory agency under the Civil Aviation Ministry was not impressed with the scenario at the Security Hold Area (SHA) for departing international passengers in Terminal 2, and hence withheld its clearance, said airport sources. The SHA for international passengers is where flyers wait for hours after clearing the immigration and security checks prior to departure.
“The SHA is sacrosanct as it implies the passenger has passed all the security checks and is ready for the flight. The Bureau of Civil Aviation Security (BCAS) which lays down the Security programme and does the Security Vetting has the final say when it comes to security in place at airports. Unless it hands over its consent in writing, operations cannot begin,” said a top source. Food and beverage shops and other shopping outlets are present at the SHA.
The BCAS may have given airport operator, Bangalore International Airport Limited (B IAL) an in-principle clearance, with the final clearance incumbent on specific conditions to be adhered to. “During the final vetting, officials noted that the conditions pertaining to security have not been completed. So, consent has been withheld,” another source added.
Construction was still on, with workers at the spot with equipment until Wednesday night. “Security sweeps needed to be done and it was decided that it would not be possible to complete such a large area in such a short time, as operations had to begin the following day (Thursday).”
Meanwhile, the airline's staff, who had rushed to shift their infrastructure to T2 were grumpy, as all the airlines were said to have been kept in the dark about it until the nth hour. “Everyone knew so much remained to be completed. A needless exercise of shifting systems, other material and human resources took place and now they need to be re-shifted,” said an individual familiar with the developments.
For the second consecutive day following the announcement of the cancellation of international operations from T2, flyers kept posting queries on social media if they had to go to T2 or T1. Airlines have failed to alert passengers about the sudden change. The official handle of Bengaluru airport was patiently responding to every query that international operations were on at T1 only until September 12.