Just suppose that the plan for BIA was made without the requirement of closing HAL. What sort of plan would that be? How big would BIA be? How would it grow over the years? How would traffic be shared? How would the traffic be regulated? How would the charges be regulated? Who would ensure that both airports co-existed for the long haul instead of one competitively trying to put the other out of business? Once you figure out these things, how would you convince the civil aviation ministry to switch to this paradigm for new airports in places like Goa, Pune, Agra etc? This is the million dollar question for India now after the BIA and HIA fiascos.
