The Hindu Business Line : GMR Hyderabad airport to be ready by year-end

Greenfield airport
The airport could handle 12 million passengers a year after the completion of first phase
The 4.26-km-long runway can handle 30 air traffic movements per hour
Connecting of runway with parallel taxiway will reduce taxiing time and facilitate more traffic

WORK APACE: About 70 per cent of the work at the GMR Hyderabad International Airport passenger terminal is complete. — Satish H

Hyderabad May 9 With 76 check-in counters, 18 immigration counters, 42 aircraft parking bays (including 12 aerobridges), 2,300 seats spread across domestic and international areas and automated baggage transfers, the upcoming GMR Hyderabad International Airport (GHIAL) is all set to offer a different kind of experience to the passengers.

The 4.26-km-long runway, the longest in the entire South Asia, can handle 30 air traffic movements (the total number of take-offs and landings) per hour as against the present 16 at the Begumpet airport.

"The runway is being connected with a parallel taxiway with angular rapid exit ways. This allows the aircraft to come and go off the runway in shortest possible time, reducing the taxiing time and facilitating more air traffic movements," a senior GHIAL executive said.

Showing the progress of the airport project to a group of presspersons here on Wednesday, he said the parallel taxiway is as good as a runway at the present airport at Begumpet. "This has been cleared for emergency take-offs and landings," he said.

Later addressing a press conference, Mr T. Srinagesh, Chief Operating Officer (COO) of GHIAL, said the greenfield Rs 2,478-crore airport, which is through 50 per cent financially and 69 per cent physically, would be ready functionally by the year-end, allowing the company to initiate statutory trials to get certifications on various operational issues. This would clear the way for commencing commercial operations in March next.

Talks with airlines

The airport, which generated huge interest among various aviation-related service providers globally for starting operations, is holding talks with major international airlines. "Several airliners, including some from West Asia showed interest. Some of them could translate into launching services," he said.

When the first phase is completed next year, the airport could handle 12 million passengers a year, he said, adding that as traffic grew they would develop another runway, another infrastructure on the northern side. "Ultimately, it could handle 40 million passengers a year," he said.

The airport expects to generate 20-30 per cent of its revenues from non-aeronautical streams such as retailing, advertisement, car parking and other activities.

Stating that the company targets to ramp up non-aeronautical revenues to international levels, he said revenues from this stream could be 50 per cent of the total revenues in the next 5-10 years.

The company is yet to award, car parking, advertisement and ground handling concessions, Mr Srinagesh said.

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