BIAL Airport - at last

After 10 long years of red tapeism and bureaucracy, our city finally has a fully functional airport of International standards - BIAL. Mr Brunner, MD, BIAL, has received both praise and flak from a lot of commuters.

Being a Banglorean, I was naturally curious about the new airport. So when I got an oppurtunity to fly to Bombay last week from this airport, excitement and curiousity were on an all time high. Some good things about the airport -

* Its a fantastic feeling to see the 'trumpet exchange' (flyover), airport, runway. The whole look & feel gives it an international flavour.

*I just loved the fact that there are 50 check-in counters - no more long waits to check-in.

*The food stalls outside, the metered taxis, buses to commute all catered to people friendliness

And there are a few shortcomings too, which if corrected at this stage would help in the long run. Some main points -

1. Extend the Airport - If I was given magical powers & full control of BIAL I would stretch the building twice its size in both length & breadth. Given the traffic that would only increase & needless to say about our population the airport is woefully small. Its smaller than the airport in Auckland, a city with only 2 million people.

2. Give a cultural touch - I admire Bangkok's Suvarnabhoomi Airport with its Buddhist Stupa & Hindu Samudra Manthana and Thai local wares being sold in all shops. Give us some shops like Sapna Book Stall, Mysore Sandal products and Cauvery Sandalwood artifacts. This is the only place in the world that grows Sandalwood. Veerappan, an infamous smuggler, lived and died in these jungles.

At the entrance, a Shantala statue or a BR Hills Elephant would be more apt than a Louis Vuitton Suitcase. Sure we need to have the international look, but i dont want my airport to pretend its in Europe!

3. Taxes - A plate of Idly costs Rs 80/- Parking charges are an exorbitant Rs 50/- for every 15 minutes! I paid Rs 200/- while waiting to receive my hubby, who reached on time but got delayed due to airplane parking & baggage collection delays. The gora at the coffee shop has an attitude of the French and doesn't take my latte order directly - its through an Indian assistant. Oh, how I long for my coorg coffee!

4. Aircraft Parking, Baggage Collection delays - I dont want to speak much on this. Mr Mallya, the UB Baron quotes the same sentiment.

So Mr Brunner, can you please hear to our angst and address the issues? I love the airport and would like it even more then. And yes, please dont rename it as KempeGowda, Local flavour is great, but not local personalities(with due respect to Kempegowda) - then there's no end to it.