HAL Bangalore International Airport

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HAL Bangalore International Airport HAL Airport Hindustan Airport

IATA: BLR - ICAO: VOBG
Summary <tr><th colspan="2" align="left" valign="top">Airport type</th><td colspan="2" valign="top">Military/Public</td></tr><tr><th colspan="2" align="left" valign="top">Operator</th><td colspan="2" valign="top">Hindustan Aeronautics Limited/Airports Authority of India</td></tr><tr><th colspan="2" align="left" valign="top">Serves</th><td colspan="2" valign="top">Bangalore</td></tr>
Elevation AMSL		2,912 ft (888 m)
Coordinates		12°56′60″N, 77°40′06″E
Runways
Direction	Length		Surface
Direction	ft	m	Surface
09/27	10,850	3,307	Asphalt

HAL Bangalore International Airport (IATA: BLR, ICAO: VOBG), also known as HAL Airport or Hindustan Airport, is the domestic and international airport serving Bangalore, Karnataka, India. It is the fourth busiest airport in India. It handles an estimated 6 million passengers a year and an average of 300 flights (take-offs and landings) per day.

The airport is maintained by Hindustan Aeronautics which uses it to test and develop aircraft for the Indian Armed Forces. Manufacturing and overhauling of such aircraft has averaged nearly one per day (on a company-wide, All-India basis) over the 40 year life span of the firm. Thus this activity, per se, may not have posed an insuperable barrier to the rapid growth of civilian air traffic at HAL airport. However, rapid growth of traffic at Bangalore Airport has reportedly had some (so far relatively minor) impact on military training flight schedules at the Indian Air Force base of Yelahanka, a scant 17 km away. Bangalore airport supposedly gives priority to civilian flight movements.

1 Overview
2 Land side structure
3 Air side structure
4 ATC Frequencies in use
5 Airport upgrades
6 Airlines and destinations
- 6.1 Domestic
- 6.2 International
7 Destinations
8 External links
- 8.1 HAL Airport in the news
- 8.2 Bangalore International Airport Limited (BIAL) - new airport under construction

[edit] Overview

Originally set up by Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) in 1964, mainly for defence purposes, operations were extended for domestic commercial flights in the 1980s while the airport started to serve international destinations in 1997. In the past decade, the airport has gone through a series of expansions and upgradations to keep pace with the growing civilian air traffic in the city. While the rated capacity of the airport is 3.6 million passengers per year it is currently operating at a saturation level of 6 million. Reportedly HAL has recently requested airlines to discontinue the addition of flights to and from Bangalore.

In the late 1990s, friction started to arise between the Airports Authority of India (AAI) and Hindustan Aeronautics. AAI wanted more control over airport management which HAL refused, citing national security concerns. The HAL airport is the site of much of HAL's test and research facility. Currently, more than 50% of the Indian Air Force fleet consists of aircraft manufactured by HAL. The airport's management issue also caused contention between the Indian Ministry of Defence and the Civil Aviation Ministry. Thus turf wars may have been the major problem, and not over-riding operational factors. In 2005, a private consortium in which AAI was a minority shareholder, finally started construction on new Bangalore International Airport Limited (BIAL). Once complete, BIAL will replace HAL airport as Bangalore's international and domestic airport while HAL airport will serve only as a test and research facility for HAL. The new airport is about 35 km from Bangalore and a new 6-lane highway is being built to access it. Travel time is estimated at about an hour. Hence low cost airlines are making strong representations to the Civil Aviation Minister to let them continue to use the more conveniently located HAL airport despite the contractual obligation to close down the airport's civil enclave.

[edit] Land side structure

There are separate check in sections for domestic and international departures, and separate sections for domestic and international arrivals. The airport has 2 aerobridges and preference on using the aerobridges is given to international flights.

For Domestic Departure, check in is located at two ends of the terminal - Gate 1 - for Indian Airlines and Kingfisher Airlines, while Gate 2 gives access to Jet Airways, Go Air, Air Deccan, Spice Jet, Jagsons, Air Sahara and Paramount.

International Departure is now located on the ground floor of the airport. In 2006, there's been a further revamp and extension of the International departures part of the airport. There are 2-3 baggage X-Ray machines, out of which typically only one is in service, resulting in long queues for baggage screening. Once done with check in, passengers take an escalator to the first floor and pass through immigration. Following immigration, passengers pass through customs control (which is optional), and then go through security screening. Once past security screening, passengers move to the gate hold area - which is common to all international departures, and has very limited seating. The gate area has a coffee shop and curio shop, and completely fills up during peak departure times (10 pm to 1:30 am every night).

As of October 2006, there is often a long line to get into the international departures terminal of the airport during late-night peak hours. This delay starts with there often being only 1 functioning XRay machine - which all check-in baggage must pass through. Once you're past the checked-in baggage XRay - you're in the queue for check-in. This is not a problem if flying Business/First class, but is generally quite long for the economy class (30-45 min). Once past check-in, you typically pass through immigration in 5-10 minutes, through the hand baggage security screening after immigration can take 20-30 minutes. With all these possible lines, passengers are well advised to arrive at least 3 hours early if flying economy class, and 2 hours early if flying Business/First.

The international departures section does not have a lounge for Business or First Class passengers. Air France ask all premium customers to check-in at the Leela Hotel near by, and use the hotel facilities as a pre-departure lounge.

In 2001 - 2002 a major Revamp of the International Departure was conducted. the Staff were given training in English and Customer Service. The Immigration counters were spruced up and this resulted in a smoother happier and quicker movement of passengers.

International arrivals starts on the first floor with the immigration counters. Once done with immigration, passengers take an escalator down to the baggage belts, but must first get all hand-baggage screened (XRay) by the immigration department. There are 2 baggage belts, but space is limited and the whole baggage claim area is cramped. There is also a duty free counter and a money exchange service in the same area. After collecting baggage, passengers pass through customs control, and out to the pre-paid taxi counter (run by the Karnataka State Tourism Development Corporation).

Passengers connecting to domestic flights need to collect their bags, pass through customs, exit from the international arrivals, and turn right to the domestic departures area. The international and domestic terminals are all in the same building, hence connecting is very convenient.

HAL Airport is relatively close to the city centre (12 km). A taxi ride from the airport to the city centre, in peak hour traffic takes between 1/2 - 1 hour.

[edit] Air side structure

HAL Airport has one runway, oriented to 90/270 degrees. There are 4 entry/exit taxi-ways, 2 on the east side called E2 (perimeter) and E1. Similarly there are 2 taxi-ways to the west side - W2 (perimeter) and W1.

There are 4 aprons, apron 1 through apron 4. Apron 1 is the main apron, and has 10 parking bays. Bay 5 and bay 6 correspond to the 2 aerobridges.

[edit] ATC Frequencies in use

The frequencies normally in use at BLR are:

ATC Frequencies at BLR
	Call Sign	Used for	Frequency
1	Bangalore Tower	Runway to 6,000 feet	123.5 Mhz
2	Bangalore Radar	6,000 feet to 12,000 feet	127.7 Mhz
3	Bangalore Ground	Ground movement - off runway	121.95 Mhz
4	Bangalore ATIS	Information	128.25 Mhz

Most aircraft move to Chennai ATC airspace immediately before or after Bangalore. Chennai ATC is operated on 119.5 Mhz.

[edit] Airport upgrades

Ongoing talks have taken place since the early 1990s for upgrading Bangalore's airport to international standards. The unprecedented growth of private low cost air carriers has left the authorities with logistical nightmares in the terminal in supporting day to day operations. Low cost carriers like Air Deccan have made Bangalore a major hub, with flights connecting to smaller cities like Mangalore and Belgaum. The Bangalore-Mumbai route is growing into the second busiest in the country, second only to Mumbai-Delhi.

(HAL is close to signing an agreement with Pratt & Whitney, Canada to launch maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) operations at the airport. Earlier the foreign company had signed long term agreements with Air Deccan and Kingfisher Airlines for engine maintenance. Globally, P&WC designs, develops, manufactures turbofans, turboprop and turboshaft engines for business, general and regional aircraft and helicopters. The plan is to set up an MRO base for 150 engines by mid-07 and start with 50 per year).

Completely building a new airport (as opposed to upgrading the current HAL airport) eventually won out with the new Bangalore International Airport Limited (BIAL) finally being realized in principle. Construction of the new airport began on July 2, 2005 and commercial operation is planned to begin in April 2008. Originally, this airport was to be able to handle 5 million passengers annually, with a single runway (13200 ft in length). However, given the sharp increase in passenger traffic in 2005, the airport has been redesigned so that its terminals will be able to handle 11 million passengers in the first phase, and will open, as scheduled, in April 2008. The cost of this change is estimated at Rs 4.5 billion and is funded by the private consortium.

[edit] Airlines and destinations

[edit] Domestic

Air Deccan (Belgaum, Chennai, Cochin, Coimbatore, Delhi, Goa, Hampi, Hubli, Hyderabad, Jaipur, Kolkata, Madurai, Mangalore, Mumbai, Pune, Thiruvananthapuram, Tirupati, Vizag)
Air India
Air Sahara (Chennai, Delhi, Hyderabad, Mumbai, Pune)
Go Air (Delhi, Hyderabad, Mumbai)
Indian Airlines (Ahmedabad, Bhubhaneshwar, Chennai, Delhi, Goa, Hyderabad, Kochi, Kolkata, Mumbai, Pune, Tiruvandrum)
IndiGo Airlines (Delhi, Pune)
Jet Airways (Chennai, Coimbatore, Delhi, Goa, Hyderabad, Kochi, Kolkata, Mangalore, Mumbai, Pune, Trivandrum)
Kingfisher Airlines (Ahmedabad, Chennai, Delhi, Goa, Guwahati, Hyderabad, Kochi, Kolkata, Mangalore, Mumbai, Pune, Varanasi)
Paramount Airways (Chennai, Madurai)
SpiceJet (Chennai, Delhi, Kolkata, Mumbai, Pune)