Runway 09 at Kempegowda airport, Bangalore. Image copyright Devesh Agarwal. All rights reserved. Used with permission.
Runway 09 at Kempegowda airport, Bangalore. Image copyright Devesh Agarwal. All rights reserved. Used with permission.

BIAL moves forward on second runway. Target completion in two years.

According to informed sources, Bengaluru International Airport Limited (BIAL) the operator of the Kempegowda International Airport (KIAB), has commenced activities on constructing the second parallel runway on the south side of the airport. The airport is targeting completion of the new runway in two years.

The new runway will be parallel to the existing runway, 4,000 metres long, again like the existing runway, but will be 60 meters wide to accommodate Code-F aircraft like the Airbus A380 superjumbo. There will be a dual parallel cross taxi-way on the east end of the existing runway. This is similar to the one near terminal 3 at New Delhi IGI airport. The taxiway system on the existing runway will be strengthened as part of the second runway construction as shown in grey. The construction master contract has been bagged by L&T.

Map of second runway at Kempegowda International Airport, Bengaluru
Map of second runway at Kempegowda International Airport, Bengaluru

As Bangalore Aviation understands, the earthworks has been bagged by SVEC construction and two other companies. The engineering drawing shows the large scale levelling involved. Red shows the areas to be excavated and blue the areas to be filled. The work will be divided into four zones, each with four excavators and about 15 trucks.

Map of second runway at Kempegowda International Airport, Bengaluru.
Map of second runway at Kempegowda International Airport, Bengaluru.

A source in BAIL confirmed the new runway will be Cat-III certified. This will address the major disruptions wreaked on travellers when fog hits. The current runway is only Cat-I compliant. There are rumours that BIAL will upgrade the old runway to Cat-III compliance. We feel this is not needed, at this point, since the fog duration and days do not merit a second Cat-III runway at Bangalore.

If the airport uses a left/right naming convention as practised in Kolkata and overseas, the new runway will become 09R/27L and the existing runway will become 09L/27R. For our wiki on runways, read our two-part reference article Airport runways: All you wanted to know but were afraid to ask

We requested BIAL for a comment, but they did not oblige.

A big hat-tip to the Bangalore Aviation reader who sent us these photo.

About Devesh Agarwal

A electronics and automotive product management, marketing and branding expert, he was awarded a silver medal at the Lockheed Martin innovation competition 2010. He is ranked 6th on Mashable's list of aviation pros on Twitter and in addition to Bangalore Aviation, he has contributed to leading publications like Aviation Week, Conde Nast Traveller India, The Economic Times, and The Mint (a Wall Street Journal content partner). He remains a frequent flier and shares the good, the bad, and the ugly about the Indian aviation industry without fear or favour.

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11 comments

  1. Great article Sir as ever. Reading Bangalore Aviation is always a treat.

  2. Are these blueprints and masterplans available to download from BIAL?

    It is a purely civilian airport now. They must release the blueprints and masterplans.

    Somebody should do a RTI application to release airport blueprints to the public.

  3. Nice post. Will this mean parallel approaches are possible or would it be one runway for landing and one for takeoff? Also are there plans for a third runway? Wouldn’t want BLR to end up like MUC arguing for a 3rd runway down the road

  4. Isn’t this going to make taxiing from the new runway pretty long? I wasn’t aware that the new runway was going to be on the opposite side. Is this because future terminal expansions/additions are going to be on the south side as well?

    • That may be the reason. Until the new terminals are ready, however, it is going to make for a long taxi from the existing terminal.

  5. Where will the new terminal come up? Heard that it’s coming up at the threshold of runway 27 ?? What about the new airlines that were supposed to start their services to Bangalore Ethiopian airlines, Korean air, Turkish airlines? Any news regarding that

    • Ethiopian has started the cargo operation BLR — ADD & PVG. Not sure about the Passenger service though. Guess Korean & Turkish are waiting for the Bilateral Air Service Agreement with India & South Korea & Turkey to add BLR as a point of call. May be Devesh can confirm or add more info on this.

    • Ethiopian has started the cargo operation BLR — ADD & PVG. Not sure about the Passenger service though. Guess Korean & Turkish are waiting for the Bilateral Air Service Agreement with India & South Korea & Turkey to add BLR as a point of call. May be Devesh can confirm or add more info on this.

+OK