The Tuesday Interview | We’re working to introduce e-visas, virtual queues at immigration, says BIAL CEO

The much-talked-about Terminal 2 of Bengaluru’s Kempegowda International Airport (KIA) is all set to open in January. But Hari K Marar, Managing Director and CEO of Bengaluru International Airport Limited (BIAL), the company that runs the airport, is already looking beyond that milestone. He’s working to make KIA ready to handle e-visas on the one hand, and to develop an airport city that will house business parks, IT hubs, and retail, entertainment and hospitality brands. Marar tells DH’s Nina C George he wants transform the airport into a global leader and role model in sustainable practices and innovation-led progress.

With Terminal 2 set to open soon, what plans do you have to make it easier for passengers at the immigration counters?

The long-term capacity provision is already taken care of. Terminal 2 is being operationalised and international traffic will move from the existing terminal to the new terminal in April. That is the time required for this terminal to stabilise and that's when we will move. If everything goes well, we should be able to add a few more immigration counters in the next 10 days. We will work with the Bureau of Immigration (BoI) to get them manned. We are also exploring a technology solution to introduce e-visas. We want to introduce virtual queues, so although people are in a queue, they are not physically standing in queues. We are also looking at introducing a virtual token system, so that they know when their turn is coming.

Given the ongoing India-China border tussle and the Russia-Ukraine war, are international flights being forced to take longer routes? Are airports like yours losing business?

To a certain extent. There are hardly any flights to China right now. We are not impacted as far as flights to most parts of the world are concerned, except for direct flights from India to the US, because they need to fly over Russia. Indian airlines are allowed to fly over Russian airspace. That's why direct flights from Bengaluru to San Francisco are operating well. But there were two other flights by US carriers that should have started operating 18 months ago -- United Airlines to San Francisco and American Airlines to Seattle. They haven’t started due to Russian airspace being closed to them. To that extent, direct connectivity with America has been impacted. Other than that, there is no major impact.

What are your plans to develop the areas around the airport?

One of the reasons why this area has not developed at the pace that it should have is (the lack of) connectivity. We will kickstart our airport city development very soon. We have about 430 acres of land for the development of the airport city. It will house business parks, IT hubs, concert arena, research establishments, hospitals, etc. The Taj already operates out of the airport. Between now and the next seven years, we will see significant growth. This will soon become a hub for economic activity. Metro rail did take some time to start, but now it looks like the Metro might be ready earlier than we had bargained for.

What is your mantra for avoiding chaos at airports, as was seen recently at Delhi and Mumbai airports?

Creating capacity is one part, and even when capacity is created, crowding and congestion can happen at airports at any time. For instance, on a day when there are flight disruptions, you cannot avoid congestion, especially when thousands of people come together at a single place. We have made sure that our immigration area is strongly manned during peak periods, and we also make sure that our customer care is at its best. Our round-the-clock service-oriented approach helps manage passengers and queues better.

How is BIAL working to ensure that sustainability and airport growth and progress go hand-in-hand?

Sustainability is very close to our heart. Progress by definition means sustainability woven into it. Any infrastructure project or anything that we do around the world must include an element of sustainability in it. The biggest issue when we established the airport here was that it was being set up in a rain shadow area where water was already scarce. So, how could we become independent as far as water is concerned, how do we conserve water and reuse rainwater and put it to good use by channelising it -- these are some of the issues that we have taken very seriously. We have worked, in partnership with IISc, to put in place an elaborate programme for rainwater harvesting, storage of water above and below the ground to channelise rainwater to lakes around the airport. Thanks to our work on water sustainability, since 2021, we have been declared as "water positive", meaning that we conserve, harvest and store more water than we consume.

The airport is also 100 per cent powered by renewable energy -- 75 per cent from solar and 25 per cent from wind. By December end or early in January, we will operationalise our solid waste management plant, which will result in zero discharge to landfill. Waste generated from the airport will be treated and reused. We also support neighbouring villages by helping install rainwater harvesting in the houses. This will help conserve water and channelise it in the right path.