On 24 May 2008, the new Bangalore International Airport on the outskirts of India’s silicon valley commissioned its operations and was thrown open to public. Bangalore was the first greenfield airport ageeement that was signed towards privatisation of airports. The airport is currently celebrating its 15th year of operations.
BIAL, the company operating the airport on Public Private Partnership (PPP) model has launched an engaging promotion at the airport. The theme for the year is Ullasa (joy), Utsaha (excitement) and Utsava (celebration).
Hari Marar, CEO & MD, BIAL said, “Most often it takes a lifetime to build something truly meaningful. But when we share dreams with an entire community of people to achieve that goal, the journey becomes a cherished one. This sums up the journey of BLR Airport in a nutshell. In 2008, we opened the doors of BLR Airport, and the entire airport community strived towards making it one of the best airports in the country and globally. Fast forward 15 years and BLR Airport has grown to become the third busiest airport in India, operating out of two terminals, and flying to 100 destinations. Before the Covid pandemic, we welcomed over 33 million passengers in a year – compared to the 10 million who travelled through in the first year of operations.” on his LinkedIn post.
He continued, “It’s been 15 years since we set out to accomplish becoming the new gateway to India, and we have always put in that extra mile to expand our operations while at the same time striving to deliver seamless experiences to our passengers. This year, as we complete the 15th anniversary of BLR Airport, we are commemorating the occasion with the theme – Ullasa (joy), Utsaha (excitement) and Utsava (celebration). We thank our entire airport community and our stakeholders for helping us build BLR Airport the way it is today, and we also thank our passengers for always trusting us and reposing their faith in us”.
BIAL was the first airport in India back in 2008 to host a retail area spread over 45,000 sft in the passenger terminal building. Shoppers Stop, one of India’s largest Department store chains, was the lead product retail concessionaire at the airport’s domestic departures. Switzerland-based The Nuance Group, now part of the Dufry Group was the initial Duty Free Partner. HMS Host, part of the Autogrill Group was and continues to be the main F&B partner while JC Decaux was and continues to be the Advertising partner.
Shoppers Stop built the Travel Retail opportunity in India from Bangalore International Airport ground up and has created a formidable experience over the past decade and a half for shoppers at airports.
HMS Host has created a wide array of food & beverage options, most suited for Indian passengers as well as for visiting international travellers.
A lot of customised offerings in merchandise planning have been served to consumers by Shoppers Stop at Bangalore airport, something that has been followed by many other international and domestic brands over the years across many other Indian airports. The company also has built a pipeline of interesting product categories for travellers, for self-consumption as well as gifting at the airport.
The airport is said to generate around Rs. 700 Crores in revenues annually from duty free, retail and f&b concessions.
Hon’ble Prime Minister of India Shri. Narendra Modi inaugurated the new Terminal 2 at Bangalore Airport on 9 Nov. 2022. With the second runway operational and with the new terminal building, the airport is expected to handle over 50 mn passengers pa by 2028, from the current status or 31 mn passengers in FY 2022-23. This also makes the airport a formidable place for a retail opportunity of over Rs. 1,000 Cr annually.
