Kempegowda International Airport is an international airport serving Bengaluru, the capital of the Indian state of Karnataka. Spread over , it is located about north of the city, near the suburb of Devanahalli. It is owned and operated by Bengaluru International Airport Limited (BIAL), a public–private consortium. The airport opened in May 2008, as an alternative to the increasingly congested HAL Airport, the original commercial airport serving the city. It is named after Kempe Gowda I, the founder of Bengaluru. It is Karnataka's first fully solar powered airport, developed by CleanMax Solar.
The airport is the third-busiest in India, behind the airports in Delhi and Mumbai. It is the 26th busiest airport in Asia and the 54th busiest airport in the world as of 2024. In FY2025-26, the airport handled over 44.47 million passengers and of cargo. The airport offers connecting flights to all 6 inhabited continents, and direct flights to 5.
The airport has two passenger terminals that handle both domestic and international operations, and two runways, the second of which was commissioned on 6 December 2019. The second terminal was inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on 11 November 2022. There is also a cargo village with 3 cargo terminals.
The airport serves a hub for Air India, Alliance Air, DHL Aviation, FedEx Express and Star Air, as well as an operating base for Air India Express, Akasa Air and IndiGo.
History Planning (1991–2004) The original airport serving Bengaluru was HAL Airport, located from the city centre. It was the primary airport in the city until 2008. Originally established in 1942 for military and defence purposes, HAL began domestic operations for the first time in the late 1970s. The unexpected popularity of newly offered domestic flights encouraged rapid expansion of the airport. In the late 1990s, the first international services began, with Air India flights to Singapore. In 2000, the first foreign carrier, Royal Nepal Airlines, commenced operations with flights to Kathmandu, followed by Lufthansa's A340 service to Germany a year later. Several other major international carriers such as British Airways and Air France started serving the old airport by 2005.
An expansion of the airport's international terminal was impossible, since there was no space in the surrounding environment, and the airport apron could only park six aircraft. In March 1991, former Chairman of the National Airports Authority of India (NAAI), S. Ramanathan, convened a panel to select a site for the new airport. The panel decided on Devanahalli, a village about north of Bengaluru. The State Government drafted a proposal to build the airport with private assistance, which the Union Government approved in 1994. In 1995, the Airports Authority of India (AAI) and the Government of Karnataka decided to call for international consortia to own, build and operate the new greenfield airport.
In December 1995, a consortium made up of the Tata Group, Raytheon and Singapore Changi Airport signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the State Government regarding participation in the project. In June 1998, however, the consortium announced it was pulling out of the project due to delays in government approval. These included disputes over the location of the new airport and the fate of HAL Airport.
In May 1999, the Airports Authority of India (AAI) and the Karnataka State Industrial and Infrastructure Development Corporation (KSIIDC) signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) regarding the project. It would be a public–private partnership, with AAI and KSIIDC holding a 26% share and private companies holding the remaining 74%. In January 2001, the State Government created the company Bengaluru International Airport Limited (BIAL) as a special purpose entity, and began searching for partners. By November, the project had attracted Zürich Airport, Siemens Project Ventures and Larsen & Toubro. Construction was expected to begin in October 2002; however, governmental delays persisted. The Union Cabinet approved the project in February 2000. The concession agreement between the State Government, the Union Government and BIAL was signed in July 2004, and it required the closure of HAL Airport.
It took nearly a decade to progress from the initial stages of land allocation and acquisition, to the signing of shareholder agreements in 2002 and the start of construction.
Design When the project was initiated, BIAL anticipated traffic of approximately 5 million passengers per annum in the first few years of operations. However, the scale of air traffic growth in the city meant that the figure was already breached by 2008. It took more than 9 months to redesign the project and gain permission for expansion. By the time the approvals for the reworked project were sanctioned, construction was half completed. Despite the challenges, BIAL expected the airport to be operational by the initially proposed date of completion.
The revised increase in capacity catered to 11 million passengers per annum, more than doubling the previous estimates. BIAL's modified plan was to build a terminal with 8 passenger boarding bridges, 1 double arm aerobridge, 9 remote bus gates and a single, long runway. BIAL also planned to build an apron with 42 Code-C aircraft stands (with 8 contact stands), as well as an air and land-side road system. The estimated cost for the entire project at the time was .
Construction and opening (2005–2008) Construction commenced on 2 July 2005, and was completed in 32 months. BIAL set the launch date for 30 March 2008. However, due to delays in establishing air traffic control services at the airport, the launch date was pushed to 11 May, and further to 24 May 2008.
Public criticism arose with the opening of the new airport, mainly due to the closure of HAL Airport. In March 2008, AAI employees initiated a massive strike against the closure of HAL Airport in Bengaluru and Begumpet Airport in Hyderabad, fearing they would lose their jobs. The Bangalore City Connect Foundation, a group of citizens and businessmen, staged a rally in mid-May, claiming the new airport was too small for the latest demand projections. On 23 May, a hearing was held at the Karnataka High Court over poor connectivity between the city and the airport. Ultimately, the State Government decided to go ahead with inaugurating the new airport and closing HAL Airport.
The first commercial flight, Air India Flight 609 (AI609) from Mumbai, was allowed to land at 10:40PM on 23 May, the day before the official inauguration, as it would be continuing to Singapore shortly after midnight. The airport became the third greenfield airport to open under a public–private partnership (PPP) model in India, after Cochin International Airport in Kochi and Rajiv Gandhi International Airport in Hyderabad.
Renaming and expansion (2009–present) The airport was originally called 'Bengaluru International Airport'. In February 2009, the State Government sent a proposal to the Union Government to rename the airport after the founder of the city, Kempe Gowda I. When no action was taken, the State Government passed a resolution for the name change in December 2011. The Union Government accepted the proposal in 2012, and formally approved it in July 2013. The airport was officially renamed 'Kempegowda International Airport' on 14 December 2013, alongside the inauguration of the expanded terminal building.
Kingfisher Airlines used the airport as a hub, and was one of the largest airlines at the airport. Following its collapse in October 2012, other airlines stepped in to fill the gap in domestic connectivity and establish hubs. Air Pegasus and AirAsia India started using the airport as a hub from 2014.
The first phase of expansion was launched in June 2011 and completed in December 2013. The project doubled the size of the passenger terminal to . It included the construction of additional check-in, immigration, security and baggage reclaim facilities. 1 domestic gate and 3 international gates were added to increase capacity. A large, sweeping roof was built to connect the original building with the expansion. The expanded terminal, dubbed "Terminal 1A", raised the capacity of the airport to 25 million passengers per annum.
In October 2019, Ethiopian Airlines began flights to Addis Ababa with Boeing 737 MAXs, marking the first nonstop connection between Bengaluru and Africa. In January 2021, Air India began flights to San Francisco with Boeing 777s, marking the first nonstop connection between Bengaluru and North America. In September 2022, Qantas began flights to Sydney with Airbus A330s, marking the first nonstop connection between Bengaluru and Oceania. The following month, Emirates began serving the airport with its Airbus A380, the world's largest passenger plane, with daily flights to Dubai, marking the airport's first A380 service.
The now-completed second phase of expansion encompassed the construction of a second runway and a second passenger terminal in 2 phases. Since completion, the airport has been able to handle 55-60 million passengers per year. The approximately project received clearance from India's Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC) in September 2014.
Ownership The airport is owned and operated by Bengaluru International Airport Limited (BIAL), a public limited company. The Government of India has granted BIAL the rights to operate the airport for 30 years, with the option to continue for an additional 30 years. The company is a public–private consortium.
Zürich Airport sold its 5% stake in the airport to Fairfax Financial in April 2016 for .
Indian conglomerate GVK Group initially owned 43% of the shares of Bengaluru Airport, but divested 33% of its stake to Fairfax Financial for in 2016. GVK closed the deal in March 2017. In January 2018, GVK decided to sell its remaining 10% in shares to Fairfax India Holdings for , and exited BIAL completely.
26% of shares are held by government entities Karnataka State Industrial Investment and Development Corporation (13%) and the Airports Authority of India (13%). 74% is held by private companies Fairfax Financial (54%) and Siemens Project Ventures (20%).
In March 2021, the Airports Authority of India announced their intention to sell their 13% stake in order to raise funds. Between FY22–25, the government aims to raise up to through aviation. This process will begin with the auction of shares held in Bengaluru Airport, followed by the sales of shares held in the airports of Hyderabad, Mumbai and Delhi.
Facilities
Runways Kempegowda International Airport has two parallel runways in operation.
+ Active runways at Kempegowda International Airport Runway designation Length Width Approach lights/ILS 09L/27R CAT III / CAT III 09R/27L CAT III / CAT III
Four years after it was opened, the first runway (now designated 09L/27R) was entirely resurfaced due to a serious decline in quality. From 11 March to 3 April 2012, it was closed daily between 10:30AM and 5:30PM. BIAL accused construction company Larsen & Toubro of building the runway poorly.
The construction of the second runway (09R/27L) at the airport was completed and the runway inaugurated on 6 December 2019, with the departure of IndiGo Flight 466 (6E466) to Hyderabad. The runway can cater to Code-F aircraft such as the Airbus A380 and Boeing 747-8. It is equipped with CAT IIIB ILS. The runway also features a parallel taxiway and two cross-field taxiways in the east, linking the new runway to the old runway and the aprons at Terminal 1 and Terminal 2. The original runway (09L/27R) was also upgraded as part of the expansion work.