Bangalore International Airport

The Bangalore/Bengaluru International Airport (BIA) is finally commencing operations from 23 May 2008.

The switch to the new airport will take place at midnight on May 23. As per the statement from BIAL (BIA Limited) all flights landing and departing after midnight will operate from the new airport.

Update: BIA opened on May 24 (Saturday) and handled 341 flights on Day One

Also flights arriving before midnight (on May 22) can also choose to land on the new airport.

Air India’s flight from Bangalore to Singapore will supposedly be the first flight to take off from the new international airport in the city, when it becomes operational on May 23.

Even though I am not traveling out of Bangalore in the near time, I decided to checkout on the connectivity and the various transport options available to and from the new international airport.

Official Website

The BIA official web site does have a lot of information on the new airport. The site is indexed pretty well in Google and also has managed to get the Sitelinks.

http://www.bialairport.com

http://www.bengaluruairport.com

Contact Details

Bangalore International Airport Limited
   118, Gayathri Lakefront
   Outer Ring Road
   Hebbal
   Bangalore - 560 024
   Tel: +91 80 2354 0000
   Fax: +91 80 2333 3400
   Email: contact@bialairport.com

Flight Schedule Details

BIAL has also come up with a Flight Schedule List which is effective from 24 May 2008 to October 25 2008.

• Domestic Departure Details – Download here
• International Departure Details – Download here

Note that these schedule are subject to change and for more accurate information you should/could always call up 1800 425 4425

BIAL website also has added a new feature via which you can view the live flight arrival and departure information.

Transportation Facilities

Following is the list of current transport options available. You can either travel by bus, use the Airport Taxi Service or drive by yourselves.

Airport Shuttle Service

There are around 40 Volvo AC buses which will shuttle between the city and the airport. The following table has more information on the pick-up/drop-off points. The following areas are covered as of now

• Hebbal
• MCTC
• Jeevan Bhima Nagar
• HAL (Old Airport)
• JP Nagar 6th Phase
• Koramangala
• Kempegowda Bus Stand
• Whitefield(ITPL)
• Electronic City

Note: Once you know the route taken by these buses, you can catch the bus at any place on the route.

The following transport map seems to show 2 more locations not mentioned in the above table.

For more information on the areas covered, you can always call up these numbers.

BMTC Control Room: Telephone No: 22952522/22952422
BMTC, Kempegowda Bus Stand: Telephone No: 22952311/22952314
BMTC, Shivajinagar Bus Stand: Telephone No: 22952321/22952324

For those who are familiar with Bangalore, the following image might help in choosing the shortest road to the airport

Airport Taxi Service

Meru and Easy Cabs are the official taxi operators at the airport. The cars supposedly have a GPS and are also air conditioned. They are also are equipped with a credit card machine and at a charge of 15 INR/km this is definitely required 🙂

You can also book these taxis over phone; the facility however is available only if you are going towards the airport.

Easy Cabs - 43434343
Meru Cabs - 44224422

Limo and Car Rental

You can also rent premium cars from Hertz or Akbar Travels. Apart from the regular chauffeured cars, passengers can also avail self-driven cars at the airport.

There will be three ranges of self drive cars- the compact category (Suzuki Swift), the intermediate range – (Ford Fiesta), the standard category- (Toyota corolla), Multi Utility Vehicles (Toyota Innova) and Sports Utility Vehicles (Ford Endeavour)

AirLift

AirLift is another car rental service which is currently charging 300 INR for a pickup/drop from any place in Bangalore. I checked on the official Website of Airlift and it looks like they are covering only south and east Bangalore as of now.

However at 300 INR, a drive in Toyota Innvoa with personal entertainment is a steal. I haven’t had the opportunity to use AirLift and hence can’t give a feedback on their service, if anyone has used Airlift, please feel free to give your feedback on the same.

If you intend to use Airlift, note that they are available at P-3 parking at BIA’s arriving terminal.

You can contact Airlift using the following details:

AIRLIFT
#106, Sherwood Suites,17/2 Varthur Main Road, 
Marathahalli,Bangalore 560 037 
Call : 97313 96331 
Email : support@airliftonline.com 

RedBus

RedBus, the online bus ticket booking service has introduced BMTC Bus booking for Bangalore International Airport.

You can book using RedBus irrespective of whether you are traveling to or from the International Airport.

RedBus allows you to book the Volvo buses on all the routes mentioned above and they even let you pick your seats.

(Note: The available seats have a checkbox which when checked appears in the “Chose Seats” text field)

Parking Facilities

The Airport’s car park can accommodate 2000 cars. The system used for the parking management is fully automated, efficient and transparent and is provided by SKIDATA™

Car parking fees have been priced at Rs.40/- for two hours and Rs.20/- for every additional hour in the general parking area. For overnight parking, Rs. 300 will be charged for the first 24 hours and Rs. 200 for every additional day.

BIA Photos

For up-to-date information, bookmark the official BIA Website !

Update – BIA has now come up with an Easy Guide which has lot of useful information.

Download BIA Easy Guide.pdf