Mind over Matters: Rumbles of my mind.. Echo in this blog..

Finally! The dreaded time has come.. Starting mid next week, the devanahalli bangalore airport will begin its operations. The HAL airport present in the center of the city will cease functioning(okay, i am really not sure about that.. i think the case is still in court to allow domestic flights to operate from there.. or was the case closed?!) and everybody has to travel to this really really remote airport around 40-50 kms away from the city to catch a flight.  The roads leading to the aiport are still being mended. Traffic is awful atleast till the hebbal fly over after which depending on your luck, traffic might ease up (though the road conditions will not).

Say for example, i have to catch a flight to chennai from bangalore. A normal train travel takes six hours plus an hour and odd of travel from the railway station to your house. If i were to catch a flight, i have to start atleast 3-4 hours earlier depending on the traffic conditions. Then add another hour of flight travel plus atleast another hour of baggage claim, catching a taxi with exhorbitant fare and reaching your house. The former case, i spend around 300.. The latter costs me around 3000 atleast. And yes, for the six hours of travel i can sleep peacefully in a berth and come.. Which one would i choose?!

Another problem which is worth to be noted is the security factor. Given that the airport is away from the city and most of the international flights land or take off late nights, chances of crime rates increasing in these areas is very high. Not sure  how the government is planning to deal with that. Another problem which i havent heard much about is the amenities. For example, how about power/water/sanitation facilities in the new airport? Given that it is way outside the city in a small village, does it have the capacity to sustain such a huge airport?

Things will definetely be interesting in the coming few months. And until people have tried and tested the airport, i am willing to give it a miss and use other modes of transport.