KIA plans 255,000 sq mt Terminal-2 expansion

The pandemic has caused a delay in Kempegowda International Airport (KIA) expansion plan and to make up for the lost time, its management has reworked its expansion strategy and now going all out to make the T2 operational by the second quarter of 2022. Fairfax India, which has a 54 per cent stake in the Bangalore International Airport Limited (BIAL) that operates KIA, in its interim report for the first three months, stated that the T2 expansion work would be completed within the stipulated time. The total cost of the Terminal 2 expansion is expected to increase primarily due to incremental interest and pre-operational expenses and the project will be executed in two phases. According to BIAL, once completed, the 255,000 sq. mt. phase 1 of T2 will augment the capacity of the airport by 25 million passengers per annum (MPPA). The second phase of Terminal 2 will be built for an additional 20 MPPA. Once operational, the combined capacity of both terminals will be 70 MPPA. Construction of the third terminal at the airport has been delayed until BIAL's fiscal year 2034. BIAL has sufficient liquidity in place to continue its operations. As per the report, due to the global pandemic, the airport handled approximately 13.5 million passengers in 2020 representing a decline in overall traffic by 59.9 per cent when compared to 2019.