The next worry is the User Development Fee which has been fixed at Rs 675 for domestic passengers and Rs 955 for international passengers. This means that the passengers would have to cough up so much more while purchasing an airline ticket. However, since this would be a transition period for all passengers in Bengaluru, the airport company has decided to slash the fee by half until May 31, 2008.
Albert Brunner, CEO of BIAL said that the full fee would be, however, imposed after May 31. A regulatory commission is also being set up to study the fee and other airport related issues.
Second phase: Bengaluru International Airport Ltd is already making preparations for the second phase of the airport project. Once this is done, the complete cost of the airport would stand at Rs 2,500 crore (Rs 25 billion). Brunner says that the airport will cater to at least 10 million passengers in the first year of the operations.
He expects the traffic to grow by at least 30 per cent by 2010, thus making it necessary to expand. As part of the expansion plan, the second runway would come up. Additional counters too would be set up. Once the expansion is complete, there will be 54 counters for the passengers.
Naming the airport: Even as the Union government takes it own time in clearing the name 'Bengaluru' officially, this new airport has already been christened the 'Bengaluru International Airport.' Prior to christening the airport, several proposals had come in suggesting names. Kempe Gowda, the founder of Bengaluru; Sir M Visvesvaraya; Dr Rajakumar; and Tipu Sultan were the names which were proposed. However, the Karnataka government decided that naming it after the city would be most appropriate.
Image: The logo of the new Bengaluru International Airport.
Also read: Lalu: India's inimitable Railway Minister
Advertisement
