Bengaluru International Airport announced the completion of six months of airport operations. The new greenfield airport opened on 24-May-08.

80% of the aircrafts departed on time with 15 mins tolerance, as per the internationally accepted norms. Average wait time for delivery of the first baggage on the arrival belt being 9 minutes for domestic and 13 minutes for international arrivals. Average queue time at check-in is 10 minutes, at security check it is 7 minutes, at arrival immigration it is 15 minutes and at departure immigration it is just 7 minutes.

Albert Brunner, CEO of BIAL shared data, facts and figures with the media. He said, “The passenger today is evolved with his travel to other international airports. The performance at an airport is measured in terms of the time taken for each process and his quick entry and exit from the airport. We are glad to have established the success of this six month young airport with data supporting its operational efficiency.”

Bengaluru International Airport Traffic

The airport began operations with 170 flights per day in May-08, it ended the summer ‘08 season with 162 flights per day. For the winter ’08, flights increased to 165 per day resulting in a growth of 1.5%. Although the domestic air traffic reflects a decline of 1.5%, this overall positive growth is due to the increased international flight operations from Bangalore further establishing the many promises that the city holds. Compared to the summer season, the airport will see a 23% growth in international movements.

The last six months have seen the introduction of six new international air carriers into Bangalore, making more global destinations directly accessible to air travelers. These include Dragon Air, Tiger Airways, Oman Air, Air Mauritius and most recently Indian carriers - Kingfisher Airlines and Jet Airways. This increase is largely due to the city’s attractive air traffic passenger profile and the increased capacity of the new airport.

The total increase in international flights during the winter schedule is over 160% as compared to last year’s winter schedule. New flights and sectors from our Bengaluru International Airport also includes Indian Airlines to Abu Dhabi which commenced operations from 27-Oct-08. Additionally, Transmile (freighter ) will begin operations to Malaysia (Kuala Lumpur - Subang).

New additions at the terminal

Bengaluru International Airport recently opened its Reserved Lounge that caters to high profile and important travelers such as MLAs, MPs, Chief Secretaries, visiting dignitaries and high profile executives. The lounge also houses an office for the State Intelligence and is operational 24/7. The other lounges in the terminal building include the Oberoi, Kingfisher and BIAL operated lounge - Cafe Net at the domestic departures. In addition, the VVIP terminal on the airside also has a lounge. The airport is readying to add the Indian (IC) lounge, soon to open, to its list of lounges, built on par with international standards.

My personal observations

• Congratulations to the BIAL team for completing 6 months. The airport is coming along nicely on the passenger front. The cargo terminal operators are doing a good to decent job, and operations are stabilising at AI-SATS and good at Menzies.

But....................

• The whole focus of BIAL is still only on passengers. Its time for their focus to include "Non passenger" business visitors', whose needs are still ignored. The air cargo operations contributes about 30% of airport revenue to BIAL, and is critical for most industries.
• There is no parking, no proper security or traffic control in the service roads near the service areas like flight kitchens, cargo terminals, airline offices, etc.
  
• There are almost 5,000 employees at the airport, and an additional 1,000+ of business providers like cargo agents and customs agents. Many of these staff, want to use the Vayu Vajra and Suvarna bus services, to reduce transport cost and travel in greater comfort. BMTC has an excellent monthly pass, but they are unable to use it, as these buses only can stop at the main parking.
  
• There is no shuttle bus service INSIDE the airport which can link long term parking with the passenger terminal building, or the main. Inside the airport premises is BIAL responsibility and they have to fulfil it.
• The cargo village is still not delivered. The airlines' offices building is still not delivered.
• There is no official, active involvement with industry, the primary customer of the airport.
  

I can only exhort BIAL to improve in these areas of shortcoming. Time to make BIA from good to great.

On Friday, 13 June 2008, I had the privilege of leading a delegation of senior supply chain managers from member companies of the Bangalore Chamber of Industry and Commerce (BCIC) on a visit of the two cargo terminals operated by Menzies Aviation Bobba (Bangalore) and Air India Singapore Airport Terminal Services (AI-SATS) at BIAL airport.

The team comprised of senior officers of a veritable "Who is who" of Bangalore industry, and was 360 degrees in sector verticals (Automotive, Biotech, Earth Moving, Electronics, Floriculture, Garments, High Tech, Logistics providers, PCB), as well as geographic locations all around Bangalore.

Hosting us were Mr. Andrew Brant, CEO, and Mr. Kamesh Peri, Director, of Menzies, Mr. Ranjiv Ramanathan of AI-SATS, and Mr. Marcel Hungelbeuhler, COO of BIAL, along with their respective operations teams. They are all competent and committed people.

Compared to my visit of 28-Apr-2008 (read article), the progress made in the last 15 days has been astounding, reflecting the hard efforts of everyone at Menzies, AI-SATS, and BIAL.

Menzies, services the European carriers, Lufthansa, British Airways, Air France, Thai, and Kingfisher, while AI-SATS services Air India, Indian Airlines, Jet, Singapore, Malaysian, Emirates, Etihad amongst others.

While the Menzies terminal is definitely way ahead in terms of preparedness, AI-SATS is making rapid strides in catching up.

After a tour of the two warehouses, the team's assessment was, that AI-SATS, which was forced to commence operations in an unprepared state, should be fully functional in about 6 - 8 weeks, while Menzies-Bobba is almost fully operational.

Compared to the poor conditions at MSIL and JWG terminals at HAL airport, the new cargo terminals are definitely superior, (read article), but they need to improve to global standards.

While new concepts in cargo handling have been brought in, the team, all expert supply chain managers, some handling over 100,00 item inventories, was disappointed by the lack of quality systems and metrics with regards to traceability and handling.

The offered many expert suggestions and critical assessment to Menzies, AI-SATS, and BIAL. The reception of suggestions was encouraging, and we look forward to constantly improving services, in-line with the global reputations of both operators, and BIAL.

BIAL indicated, that they have made facilities for low cost meals that will be helpful for the numerous employees of Customs Agents, Cargo Agents, and transporters. Traffic flow issues were being addressed.

Despite the best efforts of both the cargo terminal operators, it is still taking a minimum of 2 days to clear the cargo. The two big impediments appear to be, operations of Indian Customs authorities and some airlines.

Despite, the commitment of both the Chief Commissioner and Commissioner of Customs, to industry at a meeting in early March, there is still no assessment at BIAL, only at HAL airport. Despite the Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) system, Customs demands physical papers, which need to be collected the day following cargo landing, and physically carried across to HAL, assessment carried out, duty paid, and then the papers again carried back to BIAL for customs inspection and release. It is painful, time consuming, and only hurts Bangalore's industry by increased time and costs. The team demanded that Customs live up to their commitments and commence assessment at BIAL immediately.

Certain airlines are not further aggravating the situation by not filing their paperwork electronically. The team requested BIAL to ban these airlines from carrying cargo.

One of the cargo operators was very insistent, on not being clubbed along with the other, in assessments. Unfortunately, the one point the cargo terminal operator missed, was the fact, that the team was the customer of their customers, the airlines. The airlines decide on which terminal operator handles their cargo, not industry. Therefore, the two operators are measured in entirety.

As Theodore Levitt said, “The true business of every company is to make customers, keep customers, and maximize customer profitability”.

The team offered a constant engagement to help Menzies, AI-SATS and BIAL, reach their potential of global standards in service, and ensure industry's profitability and by extension Bangalore's growth. The encouraging response is promising.