Give us comfort letter committing to dates: Bangalore airport consortium tells Govt

The matter essentially pertains to issuing of the aerodrome license and its subsequent renewals by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA). BIAL wants a committment on the timeframe taken to issue these licenses.

The request seems to have put the Ministry in a spot as the DGCA is a statutory body meant to ensure the implementation of air safety standards and has apparently never given such a committment before.

BIAL—in which 74 per cent stake is held by a private consortium comprising Seimens, Larsen & Toubro, and Unique Zurich—wants the Ministry to commit that the license will be issued by DGCA within 45 days of receiving the application.

The license, which is a mandatory requirement before operations can start, is issued by the DGCA after an inspection of facilities after construction. Since aircraft rules state that a minimum of 90 days is needed for this purpose, sources said, an exception would have to be made in this case.

Further, the BIAL has sought that the license be issued for a period of two years. As per existing rules, an aerodrome licence is valid for only one year. Sources said the DGCA is considering to revise the periodicity to two years.

Similarly, BIAL has suggested that the renewal also should not take more than 45 days. To this, sources said, it might not be much of a problem provided the application for renewal is submitted at least a month before the expiry date and there is compliance with all regulations.

According to BIAL CEO Albert Brunner, a comfort letter is given before the construction is undertaken. ‘‘The letter is mandatory for us. There have been delays in the past and we have learnt from our experience. From what we get to hear, the letter will be issued.’’ However, ministry officials are yet to finalise their view on issuing such a letter.

This apart, the height of the ATC tower at the new Bangalore airport is yet to be cleared. While BIAL has proposed a tower that would be over 60 m in height, the existing stipulations apparently do not allow for the height to exceed 45 m unless there is special clearance by the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO).

‘‘A team from ICAO has already done a study on our proposal and given its clearance. This is now being examined by DGCA. We hope this issue is resolved soon,’’ says Brunner.