Located around 13 km from Vidhana Soudha, the HAL Airport served Bengaluru till 2008.
Credit: DH Photo/ S K Dinesh
The buzz about resumption of commercial operations at the Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) airport is getting louder.
On Wednesday, Tejasvi Surya, member of parliament from Bengaluru South, told Metrolife: “A meeting of all stakeholders will be held in Delhi in March second week. It will be headed by the civil aviation minister and include stakeholders like Airports Authority of India, Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), Bangalore International Airport Limited (BIAL) and HAL,” Surya said.
Located around 13 km from Vidhana Soudha, the airport served Bengaluru till 2008, when the Kempegowda International Airport run by BIAL was inaugurated in Devanahalli.
Surya believes reopening the old airport will help Bengaluru in many ways. “It will create a commercial airport facility in the heart of the city and augment BIAL’s capacity. It will also create a revenue stream for HAL and additional revenue for BIAL…. BIAL is keen and so is HAL. The civil aviation minister (K Rammohan Naidu) is also keen to get this addressed,” he said.
The HAL airport could be a domestic airport and boost regional travel (from Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh, for instance), he said. “People visiting Bengaluru for business can finish their work in the CBD or areas close to Whitefield and leave immediately,” Surya said.
Surya had posted on X in January that he had appealed to the Public Accounts Committee in Delhi in connection with the reopening of the HAL airport: “While we wait for a proposed second airport, there is no logic in wasting the already existing public infrastructure at HAL.”
The government, instead of investing on projects like tunnel roads, should look at how the metro network can be integrated with the HAL airport, he told Metrolife.
Experts say...
Civic evangelist V Ravichandar describes the HAL airport as an asset. “We must sweat our assets,” he says.
“When the international airport was built, BIAL and the government had come to an agreement that for 25 years there would be no other airport within a 150 km radius. It ends in 2033. Thus, the way forward is for the BIAL to take this plan ahead,” he said.
Short-haul flights would make sense from the HAL airport as it will help reduce point-to-point travel time. “The congestion towards the Hebbal flyover will come down, and impact on the HAL Airport Road would be minimal given nature of flights,” he said.
Urbanist Ashwin Mahesh wondered, “A second airport in the eastern half of the city will continue to sprawl the city towards Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh borders. Also, if the HAL airport is opened, will we ever get an airport between Bengaluru and Mysuru where it is needed?”
Reopening the airport could help people in areas like Mahadevapura, HSR Layout and Bommanahalli, he observed. However, the conditions on which the HAL airport was closed are still in force. “Consistency of policy is important for any long-term plan,” he said.
“If smoother transport is the current concern, one could work on setting up a south Bengaluru railway station. Can the Kengeri railway station be turned into a large, world-class railway station which a lot of people can use?” he added.
Mahesh reckons the questions to be asked are: “What is the problem we are trying to solve, whom are we trying to solve the problem for, and what part of the overall solution is this?”
‘Cut monopoly’
Capt G R Gopinath (retd), who founded Air Deccan, says it was not a prudent idea to shut down the HAL airport in the first place.
“Though the airport was inefficient and congested, it served a purpose. I was one of the petitioners in a PIL to the High Court, demanding that the old airport not be shut, while supporting the need for a new modern airport we can be proud of. However, the court did not give a stay,” he said.
He stressed that one of the key things to keep in mind in any business is not to allow a monopoly.
“The only way to bring down prices and improve quality of service is with competition. If airlines can compete, airports must compete. Starting another airport in Bidadi or Tumakuru is also a welcome idea. One of the major benefits of multiple airports is that the city will develop in multiple directions,” he explained. Cities like London, Hong Kong and Washington DC have multiple airports, he noted.
Gopinath endorses reopening of the HAL airport, and believes an additional airport in Hosur will make travel easier for people in areas like Electronics City and Jigani. He urged, “We need to have low-cost airlines and terminals alongside the existing international airports to bring down prices and not only enable more common people to fly but also enhance regional connectivity to smaller towns, which is now impeded with mega-glittering international airports.”
BIAL numbers
As of December 31, 2024, the Kempegowda International Airport serviced 75 domestic and 30 international destinations. Its cargo network now includes 12 freighter airlines operating on both domestic and international routes.
“The airport welcomed 4.07 crore passengers in 2024 as compared to 3.72 crore passengers in 2023,” a spokesman said.