Reopening HAL airport requires BIAL's consent: Murlidhar Mohol

New Delhi: Union Minister of State for Civil Aviation Murlidhar Mohol informed Lok Sabha on Thursday that the reopening of the existing HAL Airport in Bengaluru for civilian operations required consent from the Bengaluru International Airport Limited (BIAL) as per the concession agreement.

“As per concession agreement between government of India and Bangalore International Airport Limited (BIAL), no new or existing airport (except development of Mysuru and Hassan as domestic airports) within an aerial distance of 150 km of Kempegowda International Airport (KIA), Bengaluru, is permitted for development/improvement/upgradation before the airport completes 25 years of operations,” he told the House, in reply to a question by Bengaluru central Lok Sabha member P C Mohan.

The minister said development of any new airport within 150 km of KIA, reopening the existing HAL airport, before its 25th anniversary (May 2033), would require consent from BIAL in terms of the provisions of CA.

To a question on setting up a second greenfield international airport in Bengaluru, the minister said, following the state government’s request, the Airports Authority of India had conducted pre-feasibility studies of three sites for the development of a second airport in Bengaluru.

The pre-feasibility study report had been sent to Karnataka. The Ministry of Civil Aviation had not received any further communication from the state in this regard, he said.

Earlier, Bangalore South MP Tejasvi Surya had said that Union Civil Aviation Minister K Ram Mohan Naidu had assured him that a stakeholders’ meeting would be convened soon to explore the possibility of reopening HAL airport for civil operations.