Mangalore: New Terminal Set for Inauguration This Month End
by Florine Roche
Daijiworld Media Network - Mangalore

Mangalore, Sep 10: After much dithering the new tentative date for the inauguration of the new Integrated Terminal Building at Bajpe Airport is fixed as September 23 or 24th 2009 according to the Airport Director V N Chandran.  Earlier September 15 was set as the tentative date for the inauguration by the Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel.  

Talking to Daijiworld V N Chandran, who assumed charge as the new Airport Director on August 10, 2009 said “September 23 or 24th is again a tentative date.  I cannot be sure about the date as it is finalized at the headquarters in New Delhi.  The final date will depend on the availability of the VVIP who will inaugurate the terminal”.  It is believed that the Civil Aviation Ministry is contemplating the inauguration of the Mysore Airport to co-inside with that of the inauguration of the new terminal in Mangalore on the same day. 

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It is no doubt good news for all Mangaloreans who have been waiting for the new international airport terminal to become operational ever since the beginning of this year.  The only hitch however is that the new terminal will be operational for domestic and international flights only in October end or 1st week of November this year. So for all those who have been waiting in the wings to take off and to land in the new terminal building will have to wait patiently for at least 2 months.   

“After inauguration of the terminal about 40 to 45 days are required for us to complete the infrastructural related work and make the terminal suitable for handling domestic and international flights with proper checking points before we open it for traffic”, Chandran asserted.  With the commissioning of the new terminal the entire premises of airport will be shifted to the new terminal and the old terminal will be used for cargo handling.  

As of now Chandran does not foresee any further delay in the inauguration of the new terminal.  “Our work is going on in full swing and I don’t anticipate any delay.  Everything will be done as per the time schedule and as per our plan”, he told daijiworld. 

Chandran also said that the foundation stone for the Air Traffic Service Complex would also be laid on the same day. 

The new airport terminal has the capacity to handle more than 1000 international and domestic flights, a marginal increase from the earlier limited number of flights. With the commissioning of this terminal the 22 km distance from the city to the Bajpe airport will also be reduced by 6 kms much to the satisfaction of Mangaloreans who may find it easy and less troublesome traveling to the airport to receive or drop their near and dear ones.  

Built at a cost of Rs. 147 crores in a 40 acre area of land the 18,200 sq metres Integrated Terminal will have 2 aero bridges, 5 parking stands, 300 cars parking facility, 28 check-in counters, several conveyor belts, 250-passenger capacity arrival hall and an hodgepodge of facilities in conforming with the status of an airport handling international flights.  The work of the approach road to the new terminal is also completed by the state government at a cost of about Rs. 9 crores.    

It may be recalled that it was the commissioning of the new international length (2.9 km) concrete runway in 2006, built at a cost of Rs. 50 crores that paved the way for the new Terminal.  As a result Mangalore became the second airport in Karnataka to have two runways making way for handling the arrival and departure of international flights at Mangalore airport, thus fulfilling a long cherished dream of NRI’s of the coastal region and that of North Kerala.   

Finally it looks as though the long cherished dream of having an international status airport is seeing the light of the day. 

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