The Bangalore International Airport Ltd (BIAL) plans to take up work on the second runway next year.
According to Mr G.V. Krishna Reddy, Chairman, GVK Group, which has 43 per cent stake in BIAL, work on the second runway at the airport would be taken up next year, and work on the third runway will begin after that. He said this on the sidelines of the Regional Celebration of Civil Aviation Centenary at Bangalore on Monday.
BIAL operates the Bengaluru International Airport.
Work on the expansion of terminal building is underway at the airport. BIAL plans to expand the terminal from 72,000 sq.m to 1.34 lakh sq.m. Mr Reddy said that once that expansion work is done, work on the second runway will start.
Speaking at the event, Mr S.V. Ranganath, Chief Secretary, Government of Karnataka, said that work on expansion of regional airports at Mangalore, Mysore and Hubli was also in full swing with the State Government contributing through allocation of land and water.
Other small airports that are coming up through the public-private partnership model in the State are at Gulbarga, Bidar, Shimoga and Hassan, he pointed out.
The Karnataka Government is contemplating having a separate aerospace policy for the State, said Mr Ranganath. “About 65 per cent of the aerospace work in the country is concentrated in and around Bangalore.”
The State has also set up an aerospace special economic zone, where 41 industries have signed up to set up shop, said Mr Ranganath.
According to him, the State has been in the forefront even in development of air passenger traffic and development of infrastructure such as airports.
Bangalore international airport is the third largest international airport in India.