Kempegowda International Airport (KIA), Bengaluru is all set to witness some significant developments in 2019, reveals a report submitted by the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Transport, Tourism and Culture. According to the report, the airport’s second runway and a terminal newly being constructed will become operational by the end of September 2019. The airport will also add 20-30 parking slots to its existing 85 aircraft parking slots.
“Bengaluru’s Kempegowda International Airport has started constructed of a second terminal building. The second terminal will be ready by the second half of 2019. The tendering process has been completed along with the completion of runway, which will be ready for operationalisation till 2021. Besides, 20-30 parking slots will be added by 2019,” the report stated.
The second runway will serve any aircraft irrespective of its type and prevailing weather conditions. This will cease any further flight delays due to reasons such as fog as it will be CAT-IIIB Instrument Landing System (ILS) that will assist the pilots to land efficiently during difficult visibility conditions. The system that guides the aircraft using high-intensity lighting and radio signals promises visibility of up to 50 metres.
Besides, the new runway comes with a parallel taxiway – two cross-field taxiways on its east side – enabling the new runway to connect with the existing north runway. The construction giant L&T is the builder of the new South parallel runway and its associated works.
Fog Disrupted 48 Flights at Bengaluru Airport
In a recent incident that occurred at Kempegowda International Airport on 21 December 2018, operations of 48 flights were disrupted, and three incoming flights were diverted to other airports due to fog and low visibility conditions. The incident left the passengers stranded for hours between 5.30 - 8.38 am. The flights of Blue Dart, IndiGo and SpiceJet were diverted to Chennai airport due to the issue.
Fog-related delays are not new to Bengaluru airport. At the beginning of the month, a similar issue disrupted 63 flights -- 43 scheduled to departure and 15 scheduled for arrival. In the last week of November, 39 flights were delayed due to fog.
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Many people took to social media to report the unexpected delay. There were also comments about the increasing crowd of the airport, increasing washroom queues, improper AC and more. The expansion that is set to materialise by the second half of 2019 is expected to solve the majority of these complaints.
