Terminal 2 is a 255,000m2 space which will increase the airport’s annual passenger capacity by 25 million. The new construction marks a transformative moment for one of India’s largest cities and establishes BLR Airport as one of the world’s premier airports, operator Bangalore International Airport Limited (BIAL) said.
In front of Terminal 2, a 123,000m2 multimodal transit hub will serve as the nexus for the entire airport and a connector between BLR Airport and the city of Bengaluru. This T-shaped, two-level space will simplify access to public transit and act as an outdoor retail, event, and entertainment area.
From this transit hub, through the terminal entrance, and extending to the gates, passengers experience a series of spaces tied together by lush landscaping, both interior and exterior, overhead and sunken. The design is intended as a benchmark for sustainable growth, and an opportunity to revitalise Bengaluru’s sense of place. According to architects Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM) and operator BIAL, Terminal 2 serves as a new civic square for the city of Bengaluru, a gateway to BLR Airport’s international destinations, and a calming oasis within the bustle of an international airport.
“We are happy to announce that international operations have begun at Terminal 2 of Kempegowda International Airport Bengaluru,” said Hari Marar, MD & CEO of Bangalore International Airport Ltd. “With this move, we are looking forward to serving passengers from different countries and destinations at the new state-of-the-art terminal. While our domestic operations are divided between T1 and T2, international operations will be exclusive to T2.”
Conceived as a “terminal in a garden,” SOM’s design, in collaboration with landscape architects Grant Associates and designers Abu Jani and Sandeep Khosla (AJSK), connects travellers to nature. The main terminal block, which houses check-in, immigration, security, retail, arrivals, and baggage claim, is separated from Terminal 2’s gates by a multilevel “forest belt,” a 90m-wide swath of lushly planted landscape, marked by indigenous flora, meandering paths, and multi-storey pavilions clad in bamboo.
Designed for expansion
The terminal’s structural system and rectilinear form is designed to be efficient and sustainable, allowing flexibility over time, to support the continued growth of air travel in Bengaluru. T2 is the largest terminal in the world to have been pre-certified as a LEED Platinum building by US Green Building Council (USGBC), prior to commencing operations. It also won the Indian Green Building Council (IGBC) Platinum certification for its sustainable architecture and design.
All of the terminal gates are equipped to handle single wide-body aircraft for international flights or two narrow-body aircraft for domestic flights. The terminal provides 13 wide-body gates, which can alternate as 28 narrow-body aircraft gates, and expand to 20 wide-body gates in the future.
