Barely a month before the Silicon city gets an airport on a par with the best in the world, traffic projections are already making authorities reconsider their decision to close the existing airport beside the HAL township. This could lead to some serious problems for the private airport developer and even a renegotiation of the concession agreement signed between the AAI, Karnataka State Investment and Industrial Development Corporation and Siemens-led consortium.
The new greenfield Bangalore international airport, will have a traffic capacity of 9 million at its full capacity. But the existing airport already handles 10.5 million passengers annually as per DGCA data. This means there may not be any need for the public interest litigation against the closure of the present airport. According to a civil aviation ministry official, the inability to handle the traffic demand is a good reason to keep both airports going.
The agreement between the government and the airport developer has a 25-year clause that prohibits another airport from coming up till 2033 in Bangalore. A second runway at the new runway at the new airport could solve the isue as the capacity of the airport would rise to at least 40 million passengers annually. Air passenger traffic at Bangalore rose by 46% in the past five years against the country?s average of 32%. The airport was initially planned keeping 1999 traffic projections in mind but the unprecedented growth in the country?s aviation sector has led to some significant rethinking of the developer?s plans.
The official said government could renegotiate the agreement signed with the developer. ?All agreements can be renegotiated, as nothing is bound in stone,? the official said. ?The minister (Praful Patel) has already said that there can be renegotiations in the deal if the government deems it necessary,? he added.
The official pointed out that even if the existing airport remained open, the developer will not lose any revenue since traffic assurance was already there. And in case business prospects of the developers are hurt due to second airports then the government could think of compensation.
The option for the second runway at the new airport will take time as it has been planned for the next phase of the project. The Siemens consortium has invested over Rs 2,470 crores and is expected to be able to handle around 50 million passengers by 2025.
Another ministry official said any expansion plans would involve fresh commitment, before any returns accrue from the investment made so far. ?We are not renegotiating contracts with developers at present since we are awaiting court rulings on the public interest litigations which are already demanding that the old airports at both these cities be kept open. If the courts direct us, we will have no choice but to allow the old airports to continue commercial flights. Otherwise also, the government has the option of renegotiating contracts,? sources said.