BIAL - a big disappointment

Lot of questions were raised, discussion were held, protests made about closing down of HAL airport and traveling to new Bengaluru International Airport Ltd (BIAL). So i am not going to talk about it again here today. But the question i am trying to find an answer to is "whether the new Bengaluru International Airport Ltd (BIAL) is really of 'International' standards?".

My answer would be both YES and NO.

Yes, because the kind of entry road, parking, sign boards, valet service, number of checking counters (58 + 12 self check in) and immigration counters (20) is all superb. Even the amount of land they have for future expansion is well taken care of. Parking charges were not too high and assistant staff for lugguage cart were helpful.


No, because the terminal building and its facilities were a big disappointment. Structure wise, the building looks more like a factory (as the civil aviation minister Praful Patel rightly said). I can understand that the zig-zag design of the roof has got more to do with allowing more natural light to enter the building, but usage of more glass could have done the same too. The sloppy quality of granite stone used for flooring makes it look unattractive. The whole building had only one ATM, 2-3 shops for eatables (that too outside the departure area), there is no entry or seating arrangement at the departures for people accompanying the traveller. Worse was that there was no one from airport or airlines to guide people on how to proceed. The UDF counters were located in corner and lot of foreigners didnt even know that they had to pay the UDF charges. Most travellers were realising it while standing in boarding pass queue that they have to go and pay UDF charges (Rs. 1070) first. Out of 58 counters only 7-8 was alloted for British airways, 2-3 for GulfAir as against the much promised "check-in from any counter for any airline" thing. So i had to stand for good 1.5 hours in the queue (luckily no separate screening of checkin bags) to get my boarding pass. Then out of 20 immigration counters, only 4 were open and the officers sitting there took their own time to process. So again a 45 min standing in queue. Even the security check area had only 2 counters open, but it wasnt a long wait here. Lastly the boarding gates were 20 in number, but there was hardly any place to sit while waiting for the boarding to start.

To tell you in simple words, it looked more like a bigger version of old HAL airport with the same old inefficient staff. Compare this with the real "world class" London Heathrow airport which has 5 terminals with 25 gates in each or the Singapore airport with something like 4 terminals and 20 gates in each (dont remember exact number though) but still has no long queues and got best looks and facilities in world. Our Bengaluru International Airport Ltd really has a long long way to catch up with them. Mr. Bruner are you listening??