Bangalore's new airport will be ready on March 7 to receive the first commercial test flights. It plans to start commercial operations on March 28 or 30, soon after Hyderabad's new airport does so on 16 March.

Unlike Hyderabad, where only full-service scheduled carriers Jet Airways [Get Quote] and Kingfisher Airlines landed on February 12, low-cost carrier Simplifly Deccan (formerly Air Deccan) will do the honours at Devanahalli.

The airline is also headquartered in the city from where G R Gopinath started the country's first low-cost carrier operation. When contacted, Gopinath confirmed that the airline would land in the new airport on March 7.

A spokesperson for Bengaluru International Airport Ltd, however, merely said the test flights would take place in the first week of March.

How the new boys stack up
Specification	Hyderabad Intl  Airport Ltd	Bangalore Intl Airport Ltd
Total terminal area	105,300 sq mt
Runway length	4,260 mt; longest in Asia	4,000 mt
Initial capacity	12 million pax, to go up to 50 million pax	11 million pax, to go up to 50 million pax
Project cost	Rs 2,500 crore for first phase spread over 5,495 acres	Rs 2,470 crore initial cost

Apart from Deccan, Kingfisher Airlines, which has a majority stake in Air Deccan, will also land in the airport on the same day on its maiden test flight to the new airport. A Kingfisher Airlines spokesperson also confirmed the development. However, it is not clear whether Jet Airways will also participate in the test landings.

The airport, the second of the major public-private partnerships in airport, is being built by BIAL with Siemens, Zurich Airport, Larsen & Toubro, the Airports Authority of India and the Karnataka State Industrial Development Corporation as equity partners.

The airport will have a 4,000-metre runway (shorter than Hyderabad's 4260- metre facility) and is being built to accommodate 8.5 to 10 million passengers in 2010 and 14.53 to 18 million by 2020. In contrast, Hyderabad will initially handle 12 million passengers a year.

The 71,000-square foot terminal has the capacity to handle over 2,733 passengers at peak time, smaller than that of Hyderabad which is spread in 103,000 square metres.