Bangalore International Airport Limited, BIAL today unveiled its 1000 crore rupee expansion plan for Terminal one to cater to the increasing passenger traffic. Unveiling the plan, Vice-Chairman of BIAL Board, G V Krishna Reddy said that under the plan, the terminal will spread over an area of one Lakh thirty four thousand square metres against 72,000 square metres presently and will have 23 boarding gates in place of 12 now. The counters will be increased from thirtythree to 83 and the baggage reclaim belts will be increased to 13 instead of nine and the seating capacity will be enhanced from 2,300 to 5,300 seats. AIR Correspondent reports, the expansion of the terminal has been designed to enhance the operational performance and handle the increase of passenger traffic till 2015, which is projected to be 17.6 million people, including 14 million from domestic and 3.6 million from international operations,’ Sanjay Reddy, Managing Director, BIAL pointed out.Following the demand, a better VIP lounge had been designed and would be ready shortly, he said, adding that several features being incorporated now were those suggested by the 21-member Joint House Committee of the Karnataka State Legislature set up to look into lapses and suggest improvements to the current airport. Krishna Reddy assured that the expansion which is expected to be completed in 18 months would have influence of local art, tradition and culture.