Bengaluru airport to be partially closed for three months in 2017

Passengers won't be able to fly from or land in Bengaluru during the daytime from February 19 to April 30, 2017 as the Kempegowda International Airport will be partially closed for the upgradation work on the existing runway. In a statement, the Bangalore International Airport Limited (BIAL) said that operations at the airport will be partially closed for three months next year, reported TNIE. The runway will also be closed for rehearsals and during show timings of the Aero India 2017, TOI reported.  However, in order to compensate for the closure of facilities during the shutdown, the airport plans to enhance flight handling capacity in the hours before and after the closure every day, which is between 10 30am and 5pm. With the approval of the civil aviation ministry, the authorities have worked out flight schedules with the Air Traffic Control and all airline companies that operate in KIA, newspapers reported.  The initial plan is to build two rapid exit taxiways (RETs) under the existing runway to better air traffic movement from 38 per hour to 48 per hour. Their aim is to finish the upgradation before the onset of monsoon in May.