Spread over 4, 000 acres ( 1, 600 ha) , it is located about 40 kilometres ( 25 mi) north of the city near the village of Devanahalli. It is owned and operated by Bangalore International Airport Limited ( BIAL) , a public–private consortium. The airport opened in May 2008 as an alternative to increased congestion at HAL Airport, the original primary commercial airport serving the city. It is named after Kempe Gowda I, the founder of Bangalore.
As of 2015, Kempegowda Airport is the third busiest airport by passenger traffic in the country, behind the airports in Delhi and Mumbai. It handled roughly 18 million passengers in 2015 with 400 aircraft movements per day. The airport also handled about 287, 000 tonnes ( 316, 000 short tons) of cargo.
The airport consists of a single runway and passenger terminal, which handles both domestic and international operations. A second runway and terminal are in the early stages of planning and construction. In addition, there is a cargo village and three cargo terminals. The airport serves as a hub for AirAsia India, Air India Regional, Air Pegasus and Jet Airways. It is also a focus city for IndiGo.