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HAL Airport or '''Hindustan Airport''' is the domestic and international airport for the city of Bangalore , India . The airport is presently the fourth busiest airport in India. The airport is maintained by Hindustan Aeronautics which uses it to test and develop aircraft for the Indian Armed Forces . HISTORY Originally set up by Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) mainly for defence purposes, operations were extended for domestic commercial flights in the 1980s while the airport started to serve international destinations in 1997 . In the past decade, the airport has gone through a series of expansions and upgradations to keep pace with the growing air traffic in the city. In the late 1990s, friction started to arise between the Airport Authority Of India (AAI) and Hindustan Aeronautics. AAI wanted more control over airport management which HAL refused, citing national security concerns. The HAL airport is the site of much of HAL's test and research facility. Currently, more than 50% of the Indian Air Force fleet consists of aircraft manufactured by HAL. The airport's management issue also caused contention between the Indian Ministry of Defence and the Civil Aviation Ministry. In 2005 , AAI finally started construction on new Bangalore International Airport (BIA). Once complete, BIA will replace HAL airport as Bangalore's international and domestic airport while HAL airport will serve only as a test and research facility for HAL. STRUCTURE There are separate check in sections for domestic and international departures, with a common arrival module. The airport has 2 aerobridges used for international aircraft. AIRLINES Domestic # IC - Indian Airlines # 9W - Jet Airways # S2 - Air Sahara # DN - Air Deccan # SG - SpiceJet # IT - Kingfisher Airlines # G8 - Go Air # AI - Air India # I7 - Paramount Airways International # AI - Air India (Chicago-O'Hare, Dubai, Frankfurt) # IC - Indian Airlines (Muscat, Bahrain, Sharjah, Bangkok, Singapore) # LH - Lufthansa (Frankfurt) # MH - Malaysian Airlines (Kuala Lumpur) # TG - Thai Airways (Bangkok) # SQ - Singapore Airlines (Singapore) # RA - Royal Nepal Airlines (Kathmandu) # UL - SriLankan Airlines (Colombo) # GF - Gulf Air (Muscat, Bahrain) # AF - Air France (Paris-Charles de Gaulle) # BA - British Airways (London-Heathrow) # 3K - Jetstar Asia Airways (Singapore) AIRPORT UPGRADES Talks had been ongoing for the last decade and a half for upgrading Bangalore's airport to international standards. The unprecedented growth of private low cost air carriers has left the authorities with logistical nightmares in supporting day to day operations. Low cost carriers like Air Deccan have made Bangalore a major hub, with flights connecting to smaller cities like Mangalore and Belgaum . Completely building a new airport (as opposed to upgrading the current HAL airport) eventually won out with the new Bangalore International Airport Limited (BIAL) finally being realized in principle. Construction of the airport has begun from July 2 , 2005 and commercial operation is slated to begin in April 2008 . Initially the airport will be able to handle 5 million passengers annually, with a single runway (13200 ft length) in the first phase. EXTERNAL LINKS |
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