Kempegowda International Airport is positioning itself as a larger transfer hub as airlines expand long-haul capacity and global traffic patterns shift. Bangalore International Airport (BIAL) Chief Operating Officer Girish Nair, spoke with Anees Hussain, about the airport’s hub strategy, the impact of the West Asia crisis, cargo opportunities and plans to develop the airport as a destination. Excerpts:
What is the strategy to make Bengaluru a stronger transfer hub?
Our target is to reach around 20–22% transfer traffic in the next couple of years. Domestic-to-domestic, domestic-to-international and international-to-domestic transfers are already growing well. Air India Group is increasingly feeding traffic into the international network and IndiGo now has about a 25% share of international departures from Bengaluru. The next focus is international-to-international transfers. On the Australia–Europe corridor, about 38% of one-stop traffic currently moves through West Asian hubs. Bengaluru is geographically well positioned to capture some of that.
What has been the impact of the West Asia crisis on airport operations?
Roughly 30% of international passenger traffic has been affected. Our overall traffic mix is about 80–82% domestic and the rest international, but international passengers contribute disproportionately to revenue through duty-free, retail, lounges and aeronautical charges.
So the revenue impact is closer to 20–25%. Cargo has remained relatively stable so far. On the ground transport side, taxi operators dependent on CNG and LPG have not faced issues yet, but a prolonged crisis could create operational challenges.
Which new international routes are you pursuing?
Korea is a key market we are actively discussing with airlines. In Africa, Nairobi is another strong candidate. Ethiopian Airlines already operates to Bengaluru with a narrow-body aircraft and an upgraded product could strengthen that route.
We are also looking at opportunities in East Asia. Demand from both business travel and tourism is supporting these discussions.
How much headroom is there for cargo growth?
Our cargo infrastructure has capacity of about one million metric tonnes and current utilisation is around 50%, so there is significant room to grow. The commodity mix is also evolving. Earlier it was largely perishables, but the region now hosts more than 800 global capability centres. Electronics, semiconductors and pharmaceuticals are becoming major drivers.
How do you position Bengaluru against other southern airports?
Southern India is structurally different from the north or west where one airport tends to dominate. Here, Chennai is a large market, Hyderabad is equally strong and Kochi has strong traffic flows to the West Asia and parts of the East Asia. That means strategy has to be sharper. For many airlines we are either the second-largest airport in their Indian network or very close to it. On domestic traffic as well, during October–November we were the second-busiest airport in the country.
You have spoken about making the airport a destination. What does that mean?
Aviation will always remain the core of the airport business. But for a greenfield airport located outside the city, we also have to think about how people might visit even if they are not flying. We have started small initiatives such as movie screenings at Terminal 2 and concerts at Terminal 1. Plans include another hotel and a larger entertainment arena as part of the airport city. Delhi’s Aerocity has created a strong ecosystem and we have similar aspirations, though at our own scale.