The Hindu Business Line : Promise of world-class experience

CIVIL WORK in progress at the GMR Hyderabad International Airport at Shamshabad in Ranga Reddy District... Aiming for global standards — Sivakumar P.V.

If you happen to visit the site where the new airport is coming up in Hyderabad you could be forgiven for thinking that the existing airport would do the job very well. For, to reach the new airport, one has to travel on bumpy roads, pass through a village and find one's way across a railway crossing. But don't get too upset by the discomfort, as on the anvil are not only several four- and six-lane road projects, including a 11.3-km four lane dual carriageway from the city to National Highway 7, but there is also a proposal for a 32-km dedicated rail system to make access to the new airport smooth and fast.

According to officials, the need for a new airport was felt for a variety of reasons: High traffic growth rate, terminal building capacity constraints at the Begumpet airport, the high-rise buildings in its vicinity and its inability to handle new generation aircraft.

In addition, the central location of Hyderabad, which is two hours flying time from most major Indian cities, and 3-5 hours from most South-East Asian countries, made a new airport a necessity. Couple this with the city's growing software and services industry along with the pharma and biotech industries, and the need for a new airport is even greater.

State-of-art facilities

The promoters of the new airport, being undertaken by a consortium that includes the GMR Group, Malaysia Airports which manages and operates 38 commercial airports in Malaysia, the Andhra Pradesh Government and the Airports Authority of India (AAI), are promising a world-class experience right from the minute you reach the new airport.

The terminal building is being planned in a modular fashion to provide easy transit within the building between the domestic and international terminals. Besides, there will be 60 check-in counters with Common User Terminal Equipment (CUTE) and eight self check-in kiosks. Eighteen immigration counters have also been planned as have extensive retail and shopping outlets. There will also be barrier-free access for the disabled and elderly. At a later stage, the promoters are also looking at providing facilities for city check-in.

The new airport will be Code F-ready, which means that it will be able to handle the Airbus A-380, likely to be largest aircraft operating globally. The double-decker aircraft that can seat 550 passengers is due to enter service later this year. A number of international airlines including Singapore Airlines and Emirates operate flights to Hyderabad. However, the airlines have not yet said whether they will operate the A-380 on the India route. To facilitate a smooth flow of passengers and aircraft, the airport will have 30 aircraft parking stands and 10 passenger boarding bridges.

Cargo terminal

Although the opening of the airport is still some time away, the promoters have already awarded a contract to Menzies Aviation Plc of UK for building, on a Build, Operate & Own basis, a cargo warehouse in the new airport. The proposed cargo terminal, to be built on a plot of 3.5 acres, will be equipped to handle 100,000 tonnes of cargo.

The air and land side work that includes construction of the runway, taxiways and apron as also the airfield ground lighting system, fire station and equipment, is being handled by Larsen and Tourbo, while work on the passenger terminal building is being undertaken by China State Engineering Construction of Hong Kong, which has built the Hong Kong international airport and the theme park Hong Kong Disney.

While the physical completion of the Hyderabad airport's first phase is expected during the fourth quarter of next year, the first flight is expected to take off in the first quarter of 2008. In the first phase, the airport will have the capacity to handle 7 million passengers annually.

On completion of the entire project the airport will be able to handle 40 million passengers a year. The project is expected to cost Rs 1,760 crore during the first phase.

More Stories on : Infrastructure | Airlines | Andhra Pradesh

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