Curiously, most aspects of the master plan MIAL had submitted to the ministry nearly a year ago have significantly changed—including the design and look of the integra-ted terminal building at Sah-ar and the location of the Air Traffic Control (ATC) tower.

While MIAL is tightlipped about the finer details, Newsline has learnt that the design drawn up by MIAL’s master planners—Netherlands Airports Consultants BV (NACO)—has now been trashed and swapped for a fresh blueprint executed by the New York office of Skidmore, Owings and Merrill (SOM), one of the largest architectural firms in the US.

Among several airports they have planned worldwide, SOM are also the architects for One World Trade Center—the iconic 84-storey highrise that will be the first office tower to rise on the actual World Trade Center site.

Now, the peacock-inspired design handpicked by MIAL Managing Director G V Sanjay Reddy himself of the terminal building has been drastically changed since it was a “compromise on efficiency and aesthetics”.

“The main reason for changing the design was that the number of gates (boarding bridges) was not adequate in the earlier design—we only had 106 aircraft parking bays in all, with 67 nose-in bays. This would greatly limit and slow down our passenger processing capacity,” revealed a top MIAL official requesting anonymity.

Now there will be about 190 bays in all, with most having aerobridges. This will enhance passenger handling since fewer passengers will have to be transported by buses. “The remote bays will essentially be for the low-cost carriers who can’t afford aerobridges,” the official added.

Asked about cost escalations, the official said, “The original design would have been much cheaper for us since it was only spread over 2.5 lakh sq m. The new design now will sprawl across 4.5 lakh sq m—that is nearly double of what was proposed earlier.”

Though the number of counters will be increased from the 316 proposed in the earlier design, the final number will be worked out after the currently underway passenger simulation study is concluded.

As per the new plan, the ATC tower will be relocated near the current domestic terminal at Santacruz—in the parking lot opposite Terminal 1-B to be precise. Earlier, the control tower was to be shifted to the south side of the airport, near the Air India hangars on the Kalina side.

However, stiff opposition from the Airports Authority of India (which provides air traffic management services)—chronic flooding in the area and accessibility were cited as primary concerns— led to the location switch. Also, at a height of 79 metres—as against the current 50-metre tall tower—the ATC tower will now be the airport signature.