The Hindu : Karnataka / Bangalore News : AAI union awaits notification

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Tuesday, May 20, 2008
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Karnataka

Karnataka - Bangalore

AAI union awaits notification

V. Sridhar

Airports Authority Employees’ Union says new airport won’t ease congestion

Notification will provide cause for action
‘HAL has space for 37 aircraft, BIAL 42’

BANGALORE: Will the opening of the Bengaluru International Airport Ltd. (BIAL) at Devenahalli relieve the congestion caused by the explosion in air traffic in Bangalore? No, says S.R. Santhanam, president of the Airports Authority Employees’ Union (AAEU), who is now in the city assisting his Bangalore colleagues to launch a legal challenge to the impending closure of the HAL airport.

Stanley Sampathkumar, branch secretary of the Bangalore chapter of the AAEU, told The Hindu that the union was awaiting the formal notification issued by the Union Ministry of Civil Aviation announcing the closure of the HAL airport.

“The issuance of the notification will provide us a cause of action,” he said.

Mr. Santhanam had filed a similar petition against the closure of the AAI-operated airport at Begumpet, following the commencement of operations at Shamshabad in March. The case was still pending in the Andhra Pradesh High Court. Mr. Santhanam told The Hindu that there were several problems with arguments that demanded that the old airport be closed. Some of these were technical in nature; others of a commercial nature; and some of a legal nature.

According to Mr. Santhanam, air traffic congestion would not be eased with the shifting of the airport to Devanahalli. The flight path of aircraft landing at HAL airport or at Devanahalli was going to be the same, he said.

Moreover, the “circuit time”, that is, the time taken for aircraft in queue waiting to land in Bangalore, would not depend on whether the airport was at this or that location. The Air Traffic Control at any airport gave landing instructions in a sequential manner to aircraft in queue. “What advantage does Devanahalli have?” he asks.

“Maybe it has more space, but that is only going to allow for more planes to be parked on the ground,” he said. HAL airport had space for 37 aircraft to be parked simultaneously; the new airport could accommodate 42 aircraft. Mr. Santhanam argues that the HAL airport must be “technically deficient in some manner” to justify its closure.

“Has the Director-General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) ever found some technically anomaly during its long history?” he asks.

“No public survey has ever been made that showed that the civil enclave at HAL airport was ill-equipped. The only thing that has happened is that the Union Government has entered into an concession agreement with a private company, which has demanded that the HAL airport be closed down,” he said.

Mr. Santhanam admitted that BIAL may be able to increase its capacity to handle passengers substantially over the next 10-15 years.

At that point BIAL itself may be unable to handle the explosion in traffic that is anticipated. “Will they (BIAL) agree to close down at that stage?” he asks.

He points out that the only reason for HAL’s closure is to “enable the emergence of a private monopoly in the shape of BIAL.”

Mr. Santhanam argues that the closure of the HAL airport would affect AAI adversely. In 2007-08, the two airports Bangalore and Hyderabad generated revenues amounting to over Rs. 450 crore, accounting for more than one-tenth of the revenue that the AAI earned by operating more than 122 airports across the country, of which 86 were operational.

In terms of revenues earned from the Southern region, Hyderabad stood first and Bangalore second; and, in terms of passenger traffic, Bangalore is first while Hyderabad is second.

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