India - Articles and news items

Realising the new Bangalore Airport

Issue 5 2007, Past issues / 28 September 2007 /

In order to keep pace with the rapid development of Bangalore as India’s leader in information technology, biotechnology and the services industry, the Government of Karnataka and the Airport Authority of India decided, in 1999, to call for international consortia to build, own and operate a new Greenfield international airport in Bangalore through an open bid.

Construction of the airport began on 2 July 2005 and will last, including the testing phase, 33 months. The new Bangalore International Airport is estimated to open for commercial operations on 2 April 2008. The current progress is very good and the construction is on track (see Panel 1).

It took almost a decade from the stage of land allocation and acquisition, to the signing of the shareholder agreements in January 2002 and finally the start of construction. In the time BIAL had to negotiate the legal framework (see Panel 2), the Government of India had already planned to privatise other airports. BIAL, being the first private airport, had to set the right precedents for the other private airports and therefore all agreements, like the concession agreement and the CNS ATM agreement, had to be finalised carefully. (more…)

Contours of Asian tourism

Issue 4 2005, Past issues / 25 November 2005 /

Today, writes Peter Semone, Asia represents one of the planet’s hottest tourism destinations and one of the least understood source markets for the world’s premier destinations.

Forty years ago, few would have imagined that Asia would grow to represent nearly a third of all international tourism arrivals (IVAs). Nor would anyone have anticipated that the continent would develop economically and socially and become a major generator of tourists. (more…)