Karnataka govt pushes for HAL airport revival through BIAL

The state cabinet on Thursday decided to extend the concession agreement with Bangalore International Airport Ltd (BIAL) for 30 more years by adding a clause that will allow the company to operate the HAL airport as well.

This has, once again, revived the hopes of the HAL airport being thrown open to civilian use in Bengaluru.

The HAL airport was shut down in 2008 because the concession agreement between the Ministry of Civil Aviation and the BIAL stipulated that no rival commercial airport would function within a 150-km radius of the Kempegowda International Airport (KIA) for a 25-year period, until May 2033.

"We have now given the option for the BIAL to run the HAL airport. This means the BIAL will exempt itself from that 150-km clause," Deputy Chief Minister C N Ashwath Narayan told DH. Narayan is in favour of opening the HAL airport to domestic travel.

At present, the HAL airport operates military aircraft and chartered or VIP flights.

The concession agreement grants the exclusive right and privilege to BIAL to carry out the development, design, financing, construction, operation and management of the Kempegowda International Airport for a period of thirty years from the airport opening date, with an option to extend the concession for another 30 years.

“We exercised the option to extend the concession for another 30 years keeping the long-term in mind,” Narayan said. “There are so many projects that are in the pipeline and we wanted to add a layer of certainty by extending the agreement,” he said.