| 1 &2: A view of Bengaluru International Airport. 3. Peter Farmer, MD, 3DReid Architects, gives away the award to BIAL CEO Marcel Hungerbuehler, in Dubai recently. (Photos: CorpCom, BIAL) | |
India’s Bengaluru International Airport Ltd (BIAL) bagged the Best ‘Emerging Markets Airport Awards (EMAA) -- Indian sub-continent.’ The awards were hosted by the Airport Expo, Dubai and BIAL emerged winner leaving behind GMR Hyderabad International Airport, Malé International Airport and Bandaranaike International Airport. BIAL got to the top-spot post the tabulation of the poll results from industry honchos and leaders across the world airports. The award ceremony was held at Dubai on April 26, 2010.
Marcel Hungerbuehler, CEO, BIAL told Aviation Week that the award is a testimony to the promise the airport offers to the flying sector. “There have been ups and downs ever since the launch close to 2 years back. This greenfiled project is well on its way of establishing new performance benchmarks and grow to make the region even more promising,” Hungerbuehler said.
“These awards are excellent tools, allowing airports from across the region and beyond to compete. This will help airports strive to achieve operational excellence and allow businesses and industry leaders to set leads,” Raj Menon of EMAA, said.
Sources said that the BAIL Board of Directors had recently approved the expansion plan of the current passenger terminal and the work is expected to begin soon. “The expansion would cost around Rs 600 crore and would provide additional area of 40,000 square meters. The terminal capacity would then touch 17 million passengers per annum from the 9.9 million passengers traffic handles by us last year,” sources said.
Private promoters hold a 74% stake (40% Siemens, 29% GVK and 5% Unique, Zurich) in BIAL, while the government holds the remaining 26%.
