It looks so 'International'

This story which was published in the Bangalore Mirror in March 2008. This story was told me the previous evening itself by K R Sreenivas the RE of BM. He asked me if I could get this reality check story done during my visit to the Bengaluru International Airport (BIA). I agreed and the next day noted down all the points which were essential for the story.

It took nearly 90 minutes for the media entourage to reach the Bengaluru International for the Press Club to watch the first touch down of an aircraft at the new airport. Though the journey was a long one, the icing on the cake was the final flight trials conducted by BIAL in a near live environment which saw flights from Kingfisher, Deccan and the Indian Air Force touch down to spectacular landings.

Starting from the Press Club at 7.50 am on the Friday morning, the low traffic flow early in the morning did help. The special entry passes were checked at 9.35 am. Cameras were scanned and security check was completed in a flash for the 80 media persons taken there. The Kingfisher Airbus A320 plane from Mumbai landed at 9.55 am.
The ground staff and even the security guards at the apron area started cheering and clapping as the plane touched the tarmac. A few minutes before the plane appeared on the horizon, everyone went dead silent, watching the plane losing altitude as it approached the runway. Kingfisher Airline flight tested the international arrival process and entered the new airport through the boarding bridge.

It took another 10 minutes for the plane to be guided by the apron control jeeps to its parking bay. Halfway through to the parking bay, the plane was given a welcome shower by two panther special fire fighter trucks.
At 10.20 am, the second plane, a 12 seater Larsen and Turbo, touched ground. Then it was the turn of Indian Air Force’s heavy transporter to burn the tarmac. In quick succession, another Air Force plane and a Simplify Deccan plane touched ground around 10 minutes after 11 am. Passengers from the flight which took off from HAL airport, traveled in a spanking new airport bus and arrived at the terminal, as apart of the trail for the domestic arrival process. The final landing of the morning was another Air force plane.

Throughout the landings, dust bowls hovered around the runway and the apron area. As photographers clicked on in a frenzy, a stray dog which perhaps had VIP entrance ran across the apron area as the Larsen and Turbo plane was being led to the parking bay. As we came back towards the baggage claim area, sniffer dogs were resting after a not-too-hard morning’s work.
Suresh Bathija, a travel agent who was on the special first flight from Mumbai, said, “This airport is awesome. It is swankier and bigger than HAL airport. But my only problem is the distance my clients have to travel to the city. Otherwise this airport has the potential to become the best airport in the country. I wish we could have such a swanky airport in Mumbai.”

The kingfisher plane which landed first was also the first to take off from the new airport. But it took off only at 1.25 pm instead of the earlier announced 12 pm.
A passenger who arrived on the Deccan flight said that the airport looked spectacular from the air and on arrival, he was very impressed with the whole building. “It looks so international, the city needs this,” he said.
The journey back to the Press Club from the airport took exactly 2.35 hours. Close to 400 people participated in the trial run at the new airport.