BIAL - The new Bangalore International Airport Ltd (https://bengaluruairport.com/portal/page/portal/BIAL_PageGroup/BIAL_HOME) has been operational for a while now so I thought it might be a good opportunity to provide a balanced review of our New Airport. Surprisingly on googling (yes it is an accepted term now) for BIAL I hardly found a decent review available.
Most reviews are of the HAL airport and are timed any where from 2001 to 2007. Talk about asynchronicity in the virtual world! Some of the reviews are just cribs about the distance and the delays that happened with the flights during the intial days and didn’t exactly talk about any thing else. I am hoping my blog will be a balanced review and will provide a better picture of the airport’s current status.
Pros
The new Bangalore International Airport is a great relief when compared to the HAL airport in many ways. Plus it has led to a decent enough de-congestion of the airport road as well. I am quite happy to have an international airport in our city as it helps me avoid numerous hops to long established metros of our country.
Location - Although many of you might say that the airport is too far off, do give it a second thought. Not many international airports are located inside cities for a particular reason. It is for safety and environmental health benefits. You don’t want to stay near an airport and hear a plan taking off every 2 minutes! I just hope BIAL does not allow any residential complexes too close to the airport.
Infrastructure - Although I am not an architect I have definitely seen many international airports and I would say that BIAL is pretty good as our first effort at creating one in South India. Yet to visit Hyderabad airport so you have to excuse me on that. There is one big terminal with around 14 domestic gates and 4 international gates. Qutie a lot of food counters (much better than HAL any day) before and after check gates. It is much bigger, has many counters for passenger facilities, cleaner toilets, clearly marked areas for baggage, Security, Customs and Immigration, good wireless connectivity, better buses (inside), better elevators and better sitting arrangements. Ample parking space for personal vehicles is a also a great plus. I have also noticed a new ATM counter that has atleast 4 different bank’s machines. Now why didn’t any one think of that sooner?:)
Baggage - I have walked out with my baggages from international flights in 20 minutes and within 10 minutes on local flights so far. I am hoping they keep up this track record. Much cleaner and easily locatable baggage area. So much better than Washignton Dallas airport.
Security & Immigraion - They have 6 (4-men, 2-ladies) gates for security and around 10 for immigration counters. The people operating look different from HAL and seem to handle the traffic much better.
Connectivity- Meru, Easycabs, city taxis and buses provide connectivity. They store your call details so it is much easier for them to locate you next time and you don’t have to repeat your instructions. Volvo bus coverage (Check Volvo timings https://bmtcinfo.com/english/bial.html). the entry and exit routes for Airport are pretty decent and do not cause traffic jam as they used to in HAL. The Devenahalli highway provides 4 lane to drive on and is pretty good till we hit the city area.
Flight timings - Highly debatable topic. So far I have not had a single delay although I keep hearing people complain about flight delays and cancellations. By the way no airport in any country is free of these delays. A 10 minute delay per flight is acceptable given the volume of traffic going in and out. I think the ATC tower problems have been sorted out to a large extent.
Cons
Airport tax: The airport tax of INR 1070 sucks big time! Right now this is only for International flights but in another month or so will be levied on local flights as well. This huge drawback affects economy flights and I am quite sure that Chennai, Mangalore & other nearby city flights have shown a drastic reduction in passenger density. Read some more statistics on this https://aviation.deveshagarwal.com/2008/07/air-passenger-traffic-declines-4.html
Connectivity- The fact that it is a little too far from the city one would expect a better transportation coverage. Unfortunately the new Volvo bus network does not cover neither the hot spots of the city nor the peak travel schedules. My international flights are pretty late in the night and I usually pick very early morning/late evening local flights and this makes the task of finding affordable transportation very difficult (unless company is paying for the taxi service which costs around INR 700 on way). It would also help to have more connecting roads to the airport and also a barrickade to keep people and other non-airport traffic from entering these artery roads.
Cabs - Meru and Easycabs need to start accepting credit cards. Currently they only take cash so you need to keep INR 1500 in your pocket for 2 way transit. The cab service guys need to create a Queue system pretty soon as there is some confusion in locating the cab terminal.
Passenger waiting areas - Business Lounge needs to be slightly larger. With the amount of international planes flying in and out of Bangalore, this definitely needs to be a bigger place. With around 18 gates in one terminal and an average of 200 passgengers per flight, we definitely need more seating space.
Gates - International gates can be made bigger and there can be more space for people to sit. We may need another terminal for international travel soon. I read recently in newspapers and in online communities that BAIL has been instructed to add a new terminal. (read more analysis https://aviation.deveshagarwal.com/2008/06/bial-terminal-needs-immediate-expansion.html) . I also have to agree with Mallya’s (Kingfisher) comment that the planes stand too close to each other.
Notice boards - Some board locations can be changed to increase visual accessibility specially in the gate waiting area. Specially at gate locations, one has to really make an effort to locate the notice boards. More of a "nice to have" feature but can become a "need to have" during heavy traffic.
Final comments
The new look of the airport is fantastic compared to the older one. I was so happy to see people (local and foreigners) taking photos of areas within and outside the airport. There are fewer interruptions to those who want to travel and it creates a great first impression when you land at Bangalore. I have heard Hyderabad is better but I am yet to visit the place.
Cheerios BIAL!