BENGALURU: The Kempegowda International Airport (KIA) will have a Third Terminal within its premises in the 2030s thanks to the surge in patronage, said Satyaki Raghunath, Chief Strategy and Development Officer of airport operator, Bangalore International Airport Limited (BIAL).
Speaking to TNIE on the sidelines of the launch of international flight services from Terminal 2 on Tuesday, Raghunath said the first Phase of T2 is expected to cater to 25 million passengers annually, of which 10 million would be international passengers and the rest domestic. “KIA presently handles just under 35 million passengers annually, and the figure would be augmented by an additional 25 million at T2, thereby bringing the overall capacity to nearly 60 million passengers per annum,” he said.
An average of 1 lakh passengers use the airport daily of whom around 15,000 are international passengers, he pointed out and said that they expect international traffic to increase now that the new terminal is functional for international flights.
“T1 would be refurbished shortly,” the Development Officer said. Indigo, Akasa Air, Alliance Air and Spicejet will continue to operate from T1 while domestic operations of Air Asia, Air India, Star Air and Vistara will be handled by T2.
New intl routes in the pipeline
Sampreeth Kotian, Operations Head at T2 told TNIE that T2 has caught the fancy of flyers across India.
“The response to T2 has been really very encouraging and promising. A lot of people have actually started booking their international tickets via Bengaluru so that they can see this new terminal which is something very encouraging for us,” he said.
Currently, 27 airlines are operating from T2, of which 25 international and 2 domestic airlines will be covering 33 destinations. “The numbers will only grow,” he said confidently.