Bengaluru Airport defers commencement of operations on second runway

Earlier, it was said that the new runway will be ready by October.

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The Kempegowda International Airport (KIA) which was due to commence operations on its second runway starting from Thursday, along with its existing runway, has sad that the process has been deferred.

Earlier, at a press meet, the Managing Director and CEO of BIAL Hari Marar, had suggested that the second runway will be operational from as early as October.

“Regulatory paperwork is under way for the South Runway and associated infrastructure at the Kempegowda International Airport, Bengaluru with the first flight expected to operate from the South Runway as soon as the approvals are received,” a Bangalore International Airport Limited’s (BIAL) spokesperson said on Thursday evening.

Until now, the airport authority was not sharing any update regarding the opening of the second terminal. It has neither revealed further details nor issued a statement regarding the development.

BIAL had earlier announced that the validation (test) flight operations — the procedure wherein a flight lands and takes off as a test, to check if the runway is capable — were successfully carried out in late August.

As previously reported, the new south parallel runway will begin functioning only in a limited capacity as not all the taxiways are operationally ready yet.

This second runway is part of the airport’s Rs 13,000 crore expansion plan, which involves a new terminal, widening of access roads as well as a new multi-modal transport hub. This also includes setting up of two metro stations inside the 4,000-acre airport campus and also a suburban railway station.

Read: Bengaluru Airport to open its second runway on Thursday: Five things to know