Bangalore metropolis officially known as 'Bengaluru'-The Garden City of India was founded by the Vijayanagar Chieftan, Kempe Gowda in the early 16th century.Until recently the fastest growing city in the continent, Bangalore now has an airport that is expanding at the fastest rate in the country. With a spanking new Terminal 1A, it now hopes to be the hub of choice for the south.

Bangalore's growth can be attributed to its geographical location and to the growing businesses in this city. Due to its geographical positioning, Bangalore lies exactly in the middle of south India, so the average distance between all the regional airports is lower in comparison to other major south Indian airports. The average flying time between all south Indian airports from Bangalore is less than 90 minutes, so it presents a strong case to develop into a strong hub airport.

Bangalore as MICE hub: With the increasing number of global companies in Bangalore, growth of the information technology sector and excellent weather all year round, the city is soon becoming a preferred destination for Meetings Incentives Conventions and Exhibitions (MICE). The city is a high-yield business traffic market; there is an inherent value proposition in catering to business travellers and the segment of visiting friends and relatives.

Bengaluru International Airport is also the fastest growing airport in the country. It has successfully attracted new airlines, a mix of long-haul, high-yield international passengers and a growth of 5 per cent in international traffic last year.

Expanding for growth: Bangalore airport currently handles close to 12 million passengers and is expected to reach 17-20 million in traffic by 2017. It was therefore the right time to expand the facilities at the airport. Keeping this view in mind expansion of the current terminal was announced in 2010. As part of this expansion plan, the terminal building design takes into account existing core strengths i.e. short walkways, ease and convenience of usage, linear flow and flexible design.

The airport's aim is to continue developing and modernising the airport infrastructure to avoid capacity constraints, improve air space efficiency and minimise costs. This will be realised with the expansion of the current terminal.

The airport is being developed as an Aerotropolis, an airport city where layout, infrastructure and economy are centred around a major airport. Bengaluru International Airport aims to be the engine of economic growth for the region by connecting Bangalore to the world and evolving into a Central Business District (CBD). The first step towards achieving this objective will be a concept called 'Airport City', a city within a city. Airport City will be much more than an airport. Apart from catching flights, it will be a rendezvous for people to conduct business, shop, dine and unwind. 

Although most aerotropolis development to date has been organic, spontaneous and haphazard — often spawning congestion and environmental problems — in the future it can be markedly improved through strategic infrastructure and urban planning.

• Dedicated airport expressway links (aerolanes) and airport express trains (aerotrains) should efficiently connect airports to major regional business and residential concentrations.
• Special truck-only lanes should be added to airport expressways, as should improved interchanges to reduce congestion.
• Time-cost accessibility between key nodes should be the primary aerotropolis planning metric rather than distance.
• Businesses should be steered to locate in proximity to the airport based on their frequency of use, further reducing traffic while improving time-cost access.
• Airport area goods-processing activities (manufacturing, warehousing, trucking) should be spatially segregated from white-collar service facilities and airport passenger flows.
• Noise and emission-sensitive commercial and residential developments should be sited outside high-intensity flight paths.
• Cluster rather than strip development should be encouraged along airport transportation corridors with sufficient green space between clusters.
• Form-based codes should establish general design standards for airport area buildings, walkways, travel lanes, landscaping, and public space.
• Placemaking and wayfinding enhanced by thematic architectural features, public art, and iconic structures should make aerotropolis developments interpretable, navigable, and welcoming.
• Mixed-use residential/commercial communities housing airport area workers and frequent air travelers should be developed with easy commutes and designed to human scale providing local services and sense of neighborhood.

In short, aerotropolis development and sustainable "smart growth" can and should go hand-in-hand.

The above outcomes will not occur under most current airport area planning approaches which tend to be localized, politically and functionally fragmented, and often conflicted. A new approach is required bringing together airport planning, urban and regional planning, and business-site planning in a synergistic manner so that future Aerotropolis development will be more economically efficient, aesthetically pleasing, and socially and environmentally sustainable. The real question is not whether Aerotropolises will evolve around major airports (they surely will). It's whether they will form and grow in an intelligent manner, minimizing problems and bringing about the greatest returns to the airport, its users, businesses, surrounding communities, and the larger region it serves.