The Hindu : Karnataka / Bangalore News : Union to approach court for retaining HAL airport

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Friday, May 16, 2008
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Union to approach court for retaining HAL airport

Staff Reporter

Airport Authority Employees’ Union meeting on Monday

Bangalore: A fresh legal battle to retain the HAL airport for short haul domestic operations is on the anvil with the Airport Authority Employees’ Union (AAEU) gearing up for its last-minute effort to “save” the existing airport.

The AAEU is preparing to move the Karnataka High Court seeking a direction to the Centre to retain the HAL Airport for commercial operation of short-distance flights and a petition in this regard is likely to be filed early next week. AAEU Bangalore region president M. Shivamurthy told The Hindu on Thursday that the union leaders, led by its national president S.R. Santhanam, will meet in this regard in Bangalore on Monday.

Mr. Shivamurthy said that short distance flights, including 80-seater aircraft which shuttle between Bangalore and small cities like Mangalore, Hubli and Tirupati every day, should be operated from HAL airport in public interest.

Private airlines such as Kingfisher, Deccan and Jet Airways operate small aircraft to these destinations daily.

Besides, flights to Chennai, Kochi, Hyderabad and other short-distance cities too should be operated from the HAL airport.

The AAEU claims that the new Bangalore International Airport at Devanahalli will not suffer any financial loss by allowing such short haul flights as the new airport will still be operating more than 70 per cent of the domestic operations in addition to the international operations.

Meanwhile, AAEU has accused the Union Civil Aviation Ministry which has in principle decided to close the HAL airport, of intentionally delaying the notification in this regard to avoid legal hurdles.

The union members claimed although the new airport was scheduled to open on May 30, it was advanced to pre-empt any intervention from courts at the last minute as the Karnataka High Court is closed for summer vacation till May 25.

“The date for opening of new airport (00:00 hours of May 23, Friday) has been carefully selected as May 22 (Thursday) being the last vacation sitting of the High Court and there will not be sittings from May 23 to 25,” they alleged.

The Ministry had delayed the notification even in the case of closure of Begumpet airport while opening new airport in Hyderabad.

The petition filed by the union against the closure was dismissed as infructuous by the Andhra Pradesh High Court as the old airport was already closed before filling of the petition, union members pointed out.

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