- The waiting lounge includes a bar, napping room, massage parlour, clean toilets, an insulated 'smoker's only' chamber
- Its swanky duty-free shopping section includes a large bookstore, branded stores for clothes and accessories
- A wide variety of eating options in The Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf, KFC, Hard Rock Cafe and Paradise Biriyani
- Built at a cost of Rs 2,400 crore, the airport has speedy check-in facilitated by 130 counters, 12 self check-in kiosks, 46 immigration counters and parking for 3,700 cars
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Bridging times: Steel and glass combine for a stylish design—a first for India’s airports
Sure, the hour-and-a-half-long, 25 km ride into the city is tedious and boring. And if you're going by cab, at Rs 600 for a one-way ride it's expensive too. But having lived close to Bangalore's old in-town airport, a claustrophobic snarl whose flight paths brought screaming jets within stomach-churning distance of high-rise apartments and offices, I've to concede that it makes sense to have moved these airports away from the cities and deeper into the countryside.
The return journey was even better. Once at the departure terminal, you're whisked through the check-in process thanks to an ultra-efficient in-line baggage checking system. This means there are plenty of check-in counters which collect your baggage and save you the cumbersome task of getting it X-rayed. If you're travelling with only hand baggage, self check-in counters make the process even more streamlined.
After passing through security, in the waiting lobby your gaze is immediately drawn upward toward the soaring, vaulted ceiling which immediately imparts a sense of exhilaration and theatre. It's flooded with natural light and dotted with greenery—and has great potential as a space for displaying contemporary, cutting-edge installation art. This spacious, well-laid-out area houses an enticing stretch of storefronts and eateries—Samsonite, Landmark bookshop, The Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf, KFC, Cafe Coffee Day, Paradise Biriyani and Hard Rock Cafe. The acoustics here are so perfect I wasn't surprised to find that they are powered by Bose, and there are flat screen TVs at each gate that clearly indicate where you ought to be and when. Killing time has never been this enjoyable—flight delays here might well be something to look forward to! You have to doff your hat to the Hong Kong-based firm that designed this user-friendly temple to air travel. And admit that the gmr Group has set an impressive benchmark for airport design in India.
In terms of amenities, they've taken care of all the frills—plush and comfortable seating, plenty of fancy food choices, High Street brands and lots of entertainment. There are even massage lounges, napping rooms and a well-stocked bar; baby-stations and a well-insulated smoking room. There's just one tiny grouse though, which makes one hark back nostalgically to the crummy old airport—there's nowhere for that chunk of middle-class Indian passengers to go for that comforting 10-rupee cup of coffee.