[rjstyles69]

Got this from my company's travel desk

International passengers need to pay UDF
International passengers traveling out of BIAL on or before June 30, 2008 will need to pay a User Development Fee (UDF) of Rs.1070. This payment can be made at counters in the check-in hall or on the first floor (before the emigration check counter). Passengers would need to furnish receipt of this payment at the time of emigration check. Payment may be made by Cash, Debit Card or Credit Card (Visa/Mastercard only). For cash payments, you are advised to produce exact change for quicker processing.

[hrman]

Originally Posted by rjstyles69

Got this from my company's travel desk

And what value added service will these 1070/- bucks earn you?

[nitrous]

Don't we pay enough airport taxes already?

[rjstyles69]

hrman and nitrous anna I wouldnt know my friends :( . I got sick of paying unwarranted taxes about 2 years back itself.

[arunmur]

I don't think any thing is going to change with the new airport. If you want the truth straight, on a peak hour traversing the current Airport Road, Domlur will take you half an hour to 50 mins. This is an overused road, how do i know? i take this road every day. If you are comming from Marathahalli side nothing better.

The new Airport is a bit difficult to reach, may involve about 30 mins-1hr of extra planning for most and once new infrastructure is in place there is barely any diff(this will look more normalized if you consider that after two years it would take the same time but more effort to reach the HAL Airport then). The cost of travel ofcourse is more because of UDF, but even the current HAL Airport charges fees(airport charges), that you do not see.

Many people say leaving HAL airport open will solve all the problems, but who is to answer for all the development that has been done in the new airport and surrounding regions. What about people who will choose connecting flights from Bangalore.

Also, this time government has responded well to connectivity to Airport leading to a very good infrastructure in that area in about 2-3 years(for a change). This airport has given multitudes of business oppertunities like good bus connectivity, averagly priced taxis, hotels, shops, high speed railway connectivity to chennai and neighbouring places, good development oppertunity in North Bangalore(more office space, if the government want, it can repay for the mistakes they did with developing south and east Bangalore). This will definitely mark a new phase of development for this city.

Also what most people ignore to say is that BIAL wants to be the sole airport operator with 150kms radius of Bangalore. This does not mean that they will run only from a single terminal, HAL will be commissioned by them if need be in some later stages(as i see this is not necessary atleast till 2010). If our government stop trying to stop development of the private projects(BIAL, NICE) we will have a better life. Patel even commented that he likes the improvement of existing airport over building Airport with PPP. I really doubt anything can be improved in the existing HAL Airport(ever been to pickup some one, i once spent more time waiting for traffic to clear in the road leading to the terminal than my dad took to travel half way from Hyd and land and pickup the baggage and walk the place the car was in a jam) and secondly how far can we go, we are not building multistoreyed car parking here, Airport needs a hell lot of space, this is available at BIAL(though current most of it will be used for business, but once the locality becomes better, they will most probably convert most of it to airport space).

It will most definitely be the elevated expressway at Hosur road at guns point next, wanna bet. They will find something defective like road is not wide enough/toll charges overwhelming/bad ride quality/anything like it and then make a hell of a story with it and more Misras will be born. If this keeps happening PPP project have no hope here, nor do we for any infrastructure or cheaper living in future.

Finally lets give them a chance to proove themselves and show it to them as a challenge rather than plain complaining.

[dadu]

The boarding points of the Vayu Vajra are not very clear, will they have specific stops only or can be stopped by a wave of hand ??

The UDF fee will be included in the new bookings so its part of airport taxes but of increased value to help BIAL recover their investments faster.

[ajmat]

My estimates on catching a flight
Reaching HAL Peak hour from City Centre - 45 min
Luggage scan 5 min
Check queue - 20 min (unless you check in online) - 45 min on an SQ flight
Security - 20 min
Total - 90-120 min

Intangibles - yucky toilets, wet floors, forced to stand in rain if preceding flight check in not completed, mosquitos, cafe day where they wash the mop in same wash basin as dishes

Reaching Devannhalli from city centre - 60min
check in queue - 10 min
security - 10min

Total 80 min

Arrival

HAL - queue for immigration - 40 min
hand baggage scan - 10 min
wait for baggage - 40 min
wait for car (in urine ambinace) - 30 min
Fight t get out of airport - 20 min
get to city centre - 45 min

Total 185 int flight 105 domestic flight

Devanahallii
HAL - queue for immigration - 10 min
hand baggage scan - 10 min
wait for baggage - 15 min
wait for car (in urine ambinace) - 5 min
Fight t get out of airport - 5 min
get to city centre - 60 min

Total 105 min int or 95 min domestic


These are estimates so methinks there are not time gains but plenty of comfort gains!

[lancer_rit]

Originally Posted by ajmat

My estimates on catching a flight
Reaching HAL Peak hour from City Centre - 45 min
Luggage scan 5 min
Check queue - 20 min (unless you check in online) - 45 min on an SQ flight
Security - 20 min
Total - 90-120 min

Intangibles - yucky toilets, wet floors, forced to stand in rain if preceding flight check in not completed, mosquitos, cafe day where they wash the mop in same wash basin as dishes

Reaching Devannhalli from city centre - 60min
check in queue - 10 min
security - 10min

Total 80 min

Arrival

HAL - queue for immigration - 40 min
hand baggage scan - 10 min
wait for baggage - 40 min
wait for car (in urine ambinace) - 30 min
Fight t get out of airport - 20 min
get to city centre - 45 min

Total 185 int flight 105 domestic flight

Devanahallii
HAL - queue for immigration - 10 min
hand baggage scan - 10 min
wait for baggage - 15 min
wait for car (in urine ambinace) - 5 min
Fight t get out of airport - 5 min
get to city centre - 60 min

Total 105 min int or 95 min domestic


These are estimates so methinks there are not time gains but plenty of comfort gains!

Well we can hope :-) BIAL own time estimates for the bus service is much higher than 1hour. And I am quite sure what they have put on the chart is not peak hour times. Of course, car will be faster than bus but NH7 will be major bottleneck at peak hours. It seems the PCU rate on NH7 will go up by 100-200% of current load.

BTW, what seems like a balanced pros / cons review from a knowledgeable source (someone posted a link to his blog earlier in this thread)
http://aviation.deveshagarwal.com/20...it-report.html

As I wrote in the last thread on the petition to keep HAL open, BIAL will better HAL but keep your expectations moderate...

Regards,

[kartikkumar]

So we have another delay in the opening of the BIA. This time the launch has been deferred by 24 hours at the request of the the election commission, on grounds that polling ends on the same day. The launch is now expected 00:00 hrs on 24 May 2008!!!!

When will the airport finally open for business!

[eclectix 1st]

Originally Posted by kartikkumar

When will the airport finally open for business!

Swalpa adjust maadi !!!

[srishiva]

Its making its presence felt everywhere.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/22/wo...hp&oref=slogin

To quote someone pissed off with the airport, the expressway etc.,

Begin quote

One lawsuit holding up the expressway project concerns D. M. Dwarkanath, a retired executive of a state-owned company. He risks losing his small bungalow to make way for the route. A hospice for children with AIDS is also threatened.

Such cases have sown deep resentment among many people here, who wonder: Why do people have to make way for India’s frequent-flying classes, which are still relatively small?

“It is only for the rich people,” Mr. Dwarkanath said fuming. “They don’t have patience. They want to rush to the airplane. They want to sweep everyone out of the way. Why should we live? Sweep us into the sea!”

END quote

[s0uljah]

Originally Posted by s0uljah

The exit tax / user fee of Rs1070/- really bothers me :( Guess it has to be in place though.

Originally Posted by diabloo

Isn't it waived off ??

Originally Posted by rjstyles69

Got this from my company's travel desk

I guess not!

The nerve of it all asking for exact change. Why cant they just round it off to 1K instead of making it some Bata Shoes offer

Anyway hope it's worth it and not a ghost town next week.

[Fillmore]

I wonder why the hell do they have 2 websites, Just to add to the confusion.
Could have stuck to one single site.
The 1st appears to be more on the infrastructure part and the 2nd (more complicated url) for day to day operations.

1. Welcome to Bengaluru International Airport

2. Bengaluru International Airport

[lambuhere1]

Looking at the parking map of BIAL, i wonder where does the Volvo busses stop to pick up and drop guests ? Any ideas ?

[sammyboy]

Originally Posted by lambuhere1

Looking at the parking map of BIAL, i wonder where does the Volvo busses stop to pick up and drop guests ? Any ideas ?

Please check viaworld.in > select airport transfers> select from in the dropdown list> click on show buses >From the page that opens click on the link"more information".