The Karnataka high court has given the green signal for the launch of the new Bengaluru International Airport. The order came at 6.30 p.m. on Friday, barely a few hours before the first flight is to touch down at the new international airport at Devanahalli, Bangalore.

A division bench headed by Justice Ram Mohan Reddy gave the Union government 12 weeks to decide on the fate of the existing HAL airport. Operations at the HAL airport, meanwhile, will remain suspended.

The state government had asked the Bangalore International Airport Ltd, the private builders of the new airport to consider keeping the HAL airport open for small aircraft with a seating capacity of 80 passengers or less. However, the BIAL had opposed this proposal.

The high court directed the government and the BIAL to renegotiate the matter and come to a final decision within 12 weeks.

With the high court giving the green signal, the new airport is all set for take off. The first flight to land at the new airport would be the Jet Airways [Get Quote] flight from Mumbai at 09.45 p.m. The Air India flight to Singapore would be the first flight to take of at 12.01 a.m.

The court also made scathing remarks against the state and the Union governments for not providing the required infrastructure for connectivity to the new airport. It ordered that the connectivity issue be resolved at the earliest.

The state had assured that it would construct a six-lane carriageway to the new airport at the earliest.

• Images: All about Bengaluru International Airport