Since capacity is short of demand, does it make a case for keeping the old Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd (HAL) airport in Bangalore open simultaneously?
NEW DELHI: The new Bangalore airport, which is scheduled to commence operations after May 10, has a traffic capacity of 9 million passengers against the current demand of 10.5 million annually.
Since capacity is short of demand, does it make a case for keeping the old Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd (HAL) airport in Bangalore open simultaneously?
Demands for keeping old airports operational have been made for Bangalore and Hyderabad, but the two situations are dissimilar. Unlike in Bangalore, the new airport at Hyderabad can handle projected traffic increase from the present seven million to 12 million, for the next five years.
The government is thinking of ways to keep the old airports open at both these locations. According to official sources, the government is well within its power to renegotiate the 25-year clause, which prohibits another airport from coming up till 2033 in both the cities.
This clause forms a part of the concession agreements signed by the government and the respective private developers (GMR-led consortium for Hyderabad and Siemens-led consortium for Bangalore).
Pointing out that in neither of the cases, the airport developers are losing revenue since there is traffic assurance, sources said, in case business prospects of the developer are hurt if the second airports are allowed to function, the government may think of awarding compensation.
“We are not renegotiating contracts with developers at present since we are awaiting court rulings on the public interest litigations, which are demanding that the old airports at both the 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 the government has the option of renegotiating contracts,” sources said.
This thinking on a possible renegotiation of airport contracts comes just when a consolidated policy on airports is expected in a few weeks. Such a view is being aired, despite the government taking a contrarian view in the case of the National Capital Region.
In spite of the Delhi International Airport giving an assurance on capacity generation far outstripping demand till 2026, the government has given an in-principle approval for another international airport at Zevar, Greater Noida.
b_sindhu@dnaindia.net
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