Although the construction and commissioning of every technical machineries have been completed so far, the much-awaited opening of the new airport in Devanahalli near Bangalore will take more two to three weeks to come into operation. However, the reason for the delay has been cited as technical problems.

Sources said, the main technical or safety reason is that the airport is expecting around 500 aircraft movements a day and requires at least 80 air traffic controllers (ATC) to launch full scale services. But the airport has only 25 such personnel at its disposal, which poses a threat to safety of passengers if full-scale services are launched.

The airport can only start skeletal service with such numbers, the sources said, on 30 March when the airport is scheduled for launch.

The Air traffic controllers (ATCs) of the new airport have expressed their apprehensions to officials of the Airports Authority of India (AAI) about the rushed manner in which the operational launch of the airport is being carried out.

“Right now, March 30 is not still the absolute date,” Mr Ashok Chawla, Secretary, Ministry of Civil Aviation, told reporters in Bangalore. “We have still not taken a final view on that and need to have a clear picture. We may take a decision in two-three days after further discussions in Delhi,” he added.

Chawla along with the Director-General of Civil Aviation, AAI officials and other officials from the ministry were in Bangalore during the weekend to study the onsite and connectivity issues to the new airport in Devanahalli, and also discuss the controversial user development charges that the airport is going to levy on passengers.

Bangalore International Airport Ltd (BIAL), the operator of the new airport, has ruled out withdrawing the user development fee (UDF) on both domestic and international passengers, saying it is needed to fund future expansion.

On the contrary, GMR Hyderabad International Airport Ltd (HIAL), which starts operations on March 16, withdrew user fees for domestic passengers bowing to pressure from public, budget airlines and the government.

Furthermore, the new airport in Devanahalli is around one to three hours away from the city and so travelling to a destination which is half that in time by air away just does not make sense, revealed a source.

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