"The Bangalore international airport has gone through all the bureaucratic and man-made bottlenecks," said S.M. Krishna. "We have been able to overcome all the hurdles and work will start in December."

Work on the first international airport in the Karnataka capital was delayed after the Airports Authority of India (AAI) ruled a private company could not build an airport. That decision was later reversed.

The airport is to be constructed by a consortium led by German firm Siemens.

The Siemens consortium holds a 74 percent stake in Bangalore International Airport Ltd. while the state government and the Airports Authority of India hold 13 percent each.

State government officials said the airport is expected to handle 3.7 million passengers and 130,000 tonnes of cargo a year after it opens in 2007.

The Karnataka government has been pushing for early completion of the airport, arguing the city was being hurt by the lack of international flights.

There were also problems with financing, but in May a private Indian bank, ICICI Ltd, agreed to underwrite the five billion rupees (109 million US dollars) cost of the airport.

"The airport will be ready within 33 months," Krishna said. "It will be a state-of-the-art airport, which can be used by multinational corporations who have set up base in Bangalore."

Bangalore is home to more than 1,000 foreign technology firms including IBM, Dell, Nortel Networks, Siemens and Texas Instruments.

International traffic will constitute about one million of the 3.7 million passengers expected to use the airport.

SPACE.WIRE