Kanasu Nagathihalli

and Afrah Shafiq

BANGALORE: The international airport at Devanahalli is likely to change the way people travel once it becomes operational in April 2008.

Situated 35 km from the city, it is likely to increase travel time for most city dwellers.

This depends upon where you live of course, and whether you are one among the legion of frequent flyer executives who have made Bangalore their home.

For Sunitha Budhiraj, a resident of Yelahanka, the new airport is closer to home. An executive with an IT company, she says: "I have to leave home an hour early to reach the present airport because of the traffic on the Airport Road."

Shuttle services

With the airport moving farther away from the city, these frequent flyers also expect shuttle services or improvements in the public transport system, which would enable them to reach the airport fast. Most of them feel that even if airlines do not provide shuttle services, the BMTC could introduce services from a central point in the city.

Krishnaswamy Srivatsa, a frequent flier, says: "It is better to have a pick up point in the city and the airport authorities could provide shuttle services. I do not expect airlines to provide individual transport but if they could share shuttles, it would be well and good."

This is a requirement that many others have expressed. Rafiq Ayub, CEO of Digilog Systems, also stressed the need for a shuttle service as it would mean "less vehicles on the Devanahalli Road." He, however, said that airlines might not provide shuttle service because it has not been done in other cities such as Delhi and Kolkata.

Gauri Agarwal raised yet another issue, that of parking. "The parking lots in the new airport will be so huge that getting to the entrance will be a tedious task, not to mention finding one's car afterwards. They should probably follow the western countries by providing shuttles from the parking lots to the various terminals."

Many feel that it is only a matter of time before air travellers get adjusted to the distance, as many cities have airports located away. However, till that time, the authorities should create transport facilities that would ease travel related woes.

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