This month, we speak to Satyaki Raghunath – the Chief Operating Officer at Bangalore International Airport Limited (BIAL). Thank you so much Satyaki for agreeing to be part of this series where I speak with Network Planning and Aero Marketing champions in India and understand a different perspective.
Ameya: How did you end up in BIAL? Can you tell the readers about your current role and responsibilities and the path which led you to this?
Satyaki: I was in Aviation Consulting for about 15 years based out of San Francisco and London and BIAL was one of my many clients during those years. I moved from Consulting to the Operator side in 2015 and worked for Dubai Airports and then returned to India in late 2016. When Hari Marar (the current MD & CEO) took over his role in late 2017, he reached out to me about being Chief Strategy and Development Officer and I really liked the idea. I joined in early 2018 and the role involved dealing with both demand (traffic forecasting, slots etc.) and supply – i.e., the Aviation Business (Airline Marketing, Cargo, Aero Concessions etc.) and Corporate Strategy, Business Development and Capacity and Master Planning. After about five years, I also took on additional charge of operations more than a year ago and now handle both departments.
Ameya: Very interesting. Was this a career by choice or by chance?
Satyaki: I think it was serendipitous. I was always obsessed with transportation, even as a child. Going to the station or airport was a treat, although I couldn’t afford to fly until well into my twenties. My first degree was in architecture and I then went to the US to do my Masters in Urban Design with a focus in transportation. I ended up working with a professor who did research in Air Transport, who took a chance on me and gave me a GSR position focusing on delay and capacity at large-hub airports in the US.
As I was doing my research and completing my thesis, I spoke to a few industry partners, one of whom happened to be a boutique aviation consulting practice. I think they were intrigued (or maybe even amused) by my enthusiasm for aviation and offered me a job. When I joined them (in the immediate aftermath of 9/11), I thought I’d stay for a year or so and then see what I wanted to do. However, I loved it so much that I ended up working with them for 12 years. This is a very addictive industry, and I have enjoyed every day.
Ameya: Aviation, indeed, is addictive! Coming to BIAL. The airport has seen multiple changes in management and like any other company, it comes with its challenges and shift of focus. How was it when you took over?
Satyaki: I think I’ve been lucky in that there hasn’t been a change of ownership or focus since I joined. As I mentioned earlier, I joined when Hari became CEO and we’ve had the same relentless focus of ‘Enabling journeys, touching lives and striving to become the New Gateway to India’ since I’ve joined.
Ameya: What were the numbers like in terms of destinations when you joined, vs what it is today, and where do you see BLR Airport over the next 12 months in terms of connectivity?
Satyaki: When I joined in April 2018, BLR Airport catered to about 43 domestic and 22 international passenger destinations. Today, we have expanded significantly to 75 domestic and 29 international destinations. I think this is a natural progression given the city’s evolution, the fact that two major airlines (Indigo and Air India) are based out of here with a third one (Akasa) also growing, plus, we have international airlines, which have recognised the fact that we are the natural gateway to South India in terms of P2P traffic and behind / beyond traffic, given our location, infrastructure (i.e., capacity) and unstinting focus on customer experience and operational efficiency.
This year has been very good from an international perspective. Our biggest carrier, Indigo has significantly grown in the number of international destinations. They have 15 daily international departures to 13 destinations and over 200 daily domestic departures. Additionally, Air India Group has added service to Singapore, London Heathrow and Abu Dhabi, with service to Dammam scheduled to commence in the New Year. In addition, we have major long-haul carriers such as KL, JL, QF, LH, CX etc., who have all increased / are increasing frequencies on key routes this Winter. This is very important as having a daily service in key markets is critical for attracting both corporate and leisure traffic. Finally, we also had Virgin Atlantic commencing daily non-stop service to Heathrow in April.
Our goal over the next year or so, is to continue to work with our key domestic airline partners (6E, AI/ AIX and QP) to increase service to international destinations, while continuing our discussions with foreign carriers to connect BLR Airport to specific/key destinations.
Ameya: As an Aero Marketing head, what is your exact job?
Satyaki: As the Chief Operating Officer of BIAL, I cover Operations as well as my earlier role of Strategy and Development. One of the verticals within this is the Aero Commercial Business and as part of that function, my role is to oversee airline marketing, cargo and our aero concessionaires (ground handling, fueling, catering etc.).
Ameya: More often than not, the airline and airports are looking at the same data. What is the convincing power needed for an airline to attract a new route?
Satyaki: That is true, and the most important thing is the potential traffic on a route – either point-to-point (P2P) or a combination of P2P and behind / beyond traffic, especially when hubs are involved. Therefore, for any new route to be viable, it must align with the airline’s network strategy and demonstrate clear economic potential. Once that fundamental aspect is established, several factors are likely to play a role including capacity, customer experience and in some cases, commercial discussions between airports and airlines.
Ameya: How big is the Aero Marketing team? What is the background of these folks?
Satyaki: Our Aero Commercial Team consists of 5-6 members, a size typical for an airport of our scale. Normally in most aero-commercial teams, individuals possess a good understanding of travel and consumer trends, airline network development, route economics, and commercial methodology / revenue management.
Ameya: Do airlines listen to aero marketing teams?
Satyaki: Haha. That’s a very good question. I would like to think that we have a very good relationship with most airlines. We are in constant touch about opportunities as well as operational and customer service issues, which besides marketing, is a key focus area. We work closely with the airline network planning teams, exchanging local market data and highlighting opportunities to / from BLR Airport, which we believe would make sense to an airline. Of course, airlines have their own strategic plans and evaluate all available data before coming to their independent decision.
At the end of the day, airlines have a finite number of airframes available. So, they’re always going to assess where they’re going to make the maximum yield with that airframe and take a decision largely based on that. In the current market, given Boeing and Airbus’ struggles and the grounding of so many older aircraft during Covid, plus crew challenges, airframes are even more limited. So, the problem is even more acute. While we have great conversations about the market and BLR Airport and I would like to think that they do listen to us (some airlines seem to listen more than others), they will still end up making a commercial call, at the end of the day.
Ameya: How much does the pitch differ for a domestic route, an international route with an Indian carrier, and an international route with a foreign carrier?
Satyaki: The strategy varies significantly based on the target audience. For domestic routes, the focus is on passenger demand and regional connectivity and frankly, we don’t pitch for specific domestic routes, at this point. We are connected to 70+ domestic destinations and believe that airlines will add destinations if there is demand. On occasions, we get requests from certain industry bodies or government departments to suggest routes that they believe will enhance business, MSMEs or tourism and we discuss these with airlines. For international routes with Indian and foreign carriers, we emphasise the underlying P2P market, robust domestic feeder traffic from behind / to beyond markets to support international P2P demand. In addition, pitches often highlight available traffic rights, market viability, and the ability to integrate their hub network with BLR Airport’s growing passenger base. Each pitch is tailored to the airline’s operational priorities and strategic goals.
Ameya: Be it Seattle-Bengaluru which did not start due to COVID or non-stop to Australia, the team would have done a lot of hard work. When the flight actually lands, how is the feeling for the team?
Satyaki: Absolutely exhilarating!! Personally, it is the best part of my job. I am a commercial aviation geek myself and so are most of the team. We really enjoy making the pitch to airlines about the strength of Bengaluru and the wider South India market and why they should think of BLR Airport as their natural gateway to South India. So, when the first flight takes off / lands, I think all of us get a huge buzz as it is a tangible result of our commitment to expanding BLR Airport’s connectivity.
Ameya: Whom do you work closely with within BIAL and outside BIAL?
Satyaki: We work closely with all operational, finance and commercial teams within BIAL as well as with our stakeholders (our airlines, GHAs, cargo handlers, government agencies such as Customs, BCAS, CISF, APHO, regulatory bodies etc.). Outside BIAL, we work with government tourism departments, airlines, travel bodies, chambers of commerce etc.
Ameya: International routes are largely driven by Bilateral rights; traditionally, the four metros did not include Bengaluru (or Hyderabad). Is it changing?
Satyaki: Yes, this dynamic is evolving. The government has broadened the metro classification to include Bengaluru and Hyderabad, acknowledging their rapid growth and increasing role in global trade and travel. We actively collaborate with the government to advocate for updates to Air Service Agreements (ASAs) that reflect market needs. These efforts involve showcasing data-driven insights on passenger and cargo trends, infrastructure capabilities, and the economic impact of enhanced connectivity. That said, bilateral agreements are a two-way street, and achieving updates also depends on reciprocity from partner countries. This collaborative approach ensures that both parties see mutual value, enabling more robust international connectivity for Bengaluru and solidifying its position as a global gateway. More recently, some progress has been made at the most recent ICAN and I am optimistic that we will see BLR Airport as a point-of-call (PoC) in additional bilateral agreements.
Ameya: Bengaluru has seen multiple changes in ownership. I often called it an AC warehouse when it started, then came the expansion to T1, then the apron expansion, eventually T2 and then MRO and second runway and so much more. How has the team taken that in stride and continued the growth?
Satyaki: BLR Airport has indeed experienced significant transformations over the years, and I am proud to say that our team has navigated these changes with resilience and adaptability. Our leadership team has maintained a clear, long-term vision for the airport. This vision has been instrumental in aligning our strategic objectives with the evolving aviation landscape, ensuring that each phase of expansion serves a greater purpose. We have nurtured strong relationships with various stakeholders, including government agencies, airline partners, and concessionaires. Despite the construction and expansion efforts, our priority has always been operational efficiency and passenger experience. We have focused on enhancing facilities, and ensuring a good mix of efficiency and customer experience, which has helped build trust and loyalty among our stakeholders and passengers and led to airlines adding capacity at BLR Airport.
Ameya: Bengaluru has more domestic connectivity than Mumbai. Is “Number of destinations” something you keep looking at?
Satyaki: While it is nice to see this number and people get excited about it, I am not too concerned by this, from a domestic perspective, at this point. We are connected to about 75 destinations domestically and it is now up to the airlines to assess demand and provide capacity to those routes based on where they feel they are best served utilising their metal. On the international front, the team and I try and look at where we believe market potential exists to / from BLR and the wider South India catchment area and then work with our airline partners to see if those markets could be served out of BLR Airport. We compete with about 16 airports in South India on the international front, and this is certainly an area where we would like to see a greater number of non-stop services to various parts of the world.
Ameya: Network Planning at airlines and aero marketing at airports are more or less two sides of the same coin. If someone wants to make a career in this, what will be your advice? What will you look at in potential candidates?
Satyaki: For anyone who is keen to make a career in this area, what I would personally look for are two things – a keen interest / knowledge of commercial aviation and analytical and quantitative skills. The good thing is that today with the growth of Indian aviation, significant opportunities exist across airlines and airports, and they are only likely to get better.
Ameya: How much of an operational constraint it is in terms of slots, apron space, terminal space and what is the typical nature of working that you have with airlines?
Satyaki: We have enough capacity at BLR Airport and we’ve always thought about investing in capacity in advance of demand. This is a tough act given Indian aviation and how it has grown (defying conventional logic) despite the collapse of several airlines over the past fifteen years. We recognised the need for a second runway, a second terminal and so on, before the demand came and I think we are continuing to do that with the recent commitment to invest approximately 16,000 Cr in additional capacity over the next five years. We have a great relationship with all our carriers / partners and I believe that we work closely with them in terms of discussing our vision and their growth plans and then collaborating to achieve operational efficiency and ensure the highest standards of customer experience.
Ameya: You get quite a bit of information on route sustainability / profitability and can you tell us one route which completely hit it out of the park surpassing all expectations for you as well as the airline.
Satyaki: I think most recently, the Qantas Bangalore – Sydney route. We knew that there was demand on BLR – SYD and that a direct flight would stimulate further demand. Our discussions with Qantas were terrific and I have to say the Qantas Team were really progressive and refreshing in their approach. They approached it differently and given the strength of the South India market and their location in the Southern Hemisphere, a point of call in South India made a lot of sense for them. They were very excited about the potential of South India and their partnership with Indigo has been key as well in ensuring the success of this route. When they started in Sep 2022, P2P demand was about 50k pax / year and now, over the past two years, it has grown to over 80k pax / year. The route was profitable from the first month and we have worked closely with them on route performance monitoring, looking at pax and cargo yields and seeing what we needed to tweak in terms of D-I / I-D connectivity etc. It has been so successful, that a service that started off as a 4 x weekly Northern Winter service, reducing to 3 x weekly in the Northern Summer has now gone to daily year-round. It has been a great pleasure working with the Qantas Team and we’ve really enjoyed it.
Ameya: There has been a supply chain constraint in the industry. From engine issues to delivery issues. Does it impact your work? Does it make you replan your master plan?
Satyaki: From an airport perspective, investing in capacity is a long-term process and all investments are ‘lumpy’. So, when we do a Master Plan Update (normally, about once in five years), our goal is to look at both medium and long-term forecasts and think of how we can protect / safeguard capacity to meet demand. Even with supply chain challenges etc., we know that the major Indian airlines have about 1,000 new aircraft coming in (even accounting for retirement) over the next decade. Just based on historicity, we can expect 10-12% of this fleet to be based at BLR Airport and given our strong relationships with all the major Indian airlines, I think that it will be higher than this. We now need to invest in the capacity to meet this demand. We’ve done this well, historically and the Board has just approved a further INR 16000 Crore investment over the next five years. So, I think we’re well placed to deal with demand.
Ameya: Can you share the most popular and least popular day of travel at BLR Airport and also the most preferred time band and least preferred time band
Satyaki: From a domestic perspective, the most popular days of travel are the weekends and least popular day of travel is Tuesday. Our domestic departure peak is between 07:00 and 09:00 hours and our domestic arrival peak is between 18:00 and 21:00 hours. For international travel, the most popular day of travel is Sunday and least popular day of travel is Tuesday. Our international departure peak is between 02:00 and 05:00 hours and our international arrival peak is between 00:00 and 02:00 hours.
Ameya: The west has a lot of airlines which work on the focus city concept. In India that is not how it has worked. Do you think this will change as airports mature?
Satyaki: I think India already has some focus cities / airports. Delhi and Mumbai were the focus cities historically, but I think Bengaluru is now a major focus city for both 6E and AI / AIX and a focus city for QP too. These three metros will continue to be the major ones over the next decade or so. However, given our metropolitan regions and GDP growth, I think other cities like Hyderabad, Chennai, Kolkata, Noida, Goa etc., will also become focus cities over time.
Ameya: When it comes to allocation of slots, India has its own guidelines, IATA has a guideline, airport and airlines have their own considerations. How do you balance it on the aero marketing side? The last thing you want is to attract an airline and then realise there is no place for it.
Satyaki: As I have said earlier, we are in a good position with respect to capacity. We work closely with the airlines and with our capacity / master planning teams and operations to ensure that we have slots / capacity to meet demand. Obviously, there are sometimes that we must tweak slots / times, but so far, we’ve been fine and our investment over the next few years should ensure that we have slots / capacity when we need it.
Ameya: Where does BIAL head from here on? Air India MRO, terminal, runway. What is the master plan for and when will it get saturated?
Satyaki: What is going to be interesting is that historically, Indian airports have relied on foreign carriers to grow international traffic. For the first time, Indian airlines are going to be driving this growth at major Indian airports (except for Delhi and to some extent Mumbai, which had AI and 9W earlier too). This will mean that arrival and departure banks will also be modified to suit the connections at Indian hubs rather than us being used to foreign carriers who understandably, had schedules to suit connections at their hubs. I think this is going to mean that the way we think about operations, connectivity, customer experience, dwell time – everything will evolve over the next decade and we’re going to see some very interesting changes.
We are working closely with all our major airline partners to understand their growth plans over the next decade and plan accordingly. As I’ve said before, 6E has over 200 daily departures today at BLR Airport and will continue to grow. As they get their A321XLRs, A350s etc., their network will get tweaked and reshaped to account for these fleet changes and market dynamics. Having said that, I think we will continue to be a major focus city /hub for them.
Secondly, the AI Hub will develop over the next five to ten years and will be a major part of the growth story. They have already begun growing at BLR Airport and we can see the changes in their fleet / network. As the MRO becomes operational and as they get additional wide-bodied aircraft and the A321XLRs, they will also modify their operations to account for these changes.
We expect QP to also grow as the aircraft come in. Hopefully, Boeing’s worst challenges are behind them and the delivery schedule becomes a bit more regular. Once this happens, they have ambitious plans too.
The reason I say all of this is that the general trend over the years (or a rule of thumb) is that traffic grows typically at about 1.5 x times GDP. India of course, has a lower base / starting point and therefore we are always keeping our eye out for higher growth. The problem also is that with our numbers now, growing at 10-12% every year is the equivalent of adding ~5m pax a year. We are just completing our Master Plan Update and are protecting for capacity in excess of 100 m pax / 1.5m MT of cargo annually, which is the capacity of the two-runway system.
We are adding about 15 stands a year and have also started work on the Western Cross Taxiway and several airside projects, which will enhance airfield capacity. We are currently refurbishing T1 and have begun work on the second phase of T2. We will be adding a further 20-25m of terminal capacity over the next five years to take us to 80-85m capacity.
We are also going to be investing heavily in the landside areas with the Metro connectivity expected in the second half of 2026. Landside access, utilities etc., will see significant investment. Our cargo capacity is currently 715k MT annually. With our partners WFS and Menzies, we are expanding this to over 1m MT annually. This positions us well for the growth we expect over the next five to ten years.
Ameya: Airports often get the flak for things like immigration or customs or security, all of which are beyond the direct control of the airport. How do airports work closely with these agencies?
Satyaki: Haha, that is true globally. However, our government agencies / partners do a very good job. I have travelled all over the world over the last 25-odd years and I can safely say that the processes and experiences at Indian airports are better than most places, globally. Our waiting times, customer experience etc., are streets ahead of airports across most developed nations. At BIAL, we maintain strong partnerships with immigration, customs, and security Government sovereign functions. We have created a collaborative environment that enhances operational efficiency, improves passenger experience, and ensures compliance with regulations.
We provide the necessary infrastructure and technology services that support the work of these agencies. We hold regular meetings with them to discuss operational challenges, streamline processes, and to improve overall efficiency. So, with initiatives like DigiYatra etc., I can only see it getting better.
Ameya: If there is one single thing that you like about BIAL, what will that be?
Satyaki: I really like many things about BIAL – the bold vision we have set out for ourselves, our ability to visualize what world-class means and very importantly, just going out and doing it, our approach to our partners and stakeholders. But most importantly, we have an incredible culture of coming together and working in an environment where everyone has fun and is focused on the customer. It has been very uplifting and I’ve really enjoyed the last seven years.
Thank you Satyaki, it has been a pleasure to see your responses and gives out the path forward for BIAL, the path that got us to where we are and insights into so many things which will be of interest to the readers.
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