HAL Airport

HAL Airport (ICAO: VOBG) is an airport that serves Bengaluru, the capital of the Indian state of Karnataka. Located about 12 km east of the city centre, it has one runway and operates 24/7. Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL), a state-owned defence company, owns the airfield and runs a testing facility in conjunction with the Indian Armed Forces. The airport also caters to non-scheduled civilian traffic, including general, business and VIP aviation. For over 60 years, it received all domestic and international flights to the city; the Airports Authority of India shut down its civil enclave, officially known as "Bangalore International Airport", upon the opening of the Kempegowda International Airport in Devanahalli in 2008. The airport commenced operations in 1941 as the home of India's first aircraft factory, established by the company Hindustan Aircraft. The Allies employed the airfield during the Second World War, and by 1946 commercial flights had begun. Activity at the airport grew gradually over the next several decades until the 1990s, when it started to increase rapidly in parallel to Bangalore's economic expansion. In response, the airport underwent a series of expansions and upgrades. Meanwhile, HAL declared it wanted the airport completely to itself, resulting in the planning of another airfield to replace the civil enclave. Although HAL later modified its stance and some residents of the city protested, an agreement between the new airport's operator and the state and national governments obligated the enclave to close. Consequently, airlines moved to the Devanahalli airport on the night of 23–24 May 2008.