The Hindu Business Line : The making of country’s first private greenfield airport

Connecting lines
It’s touted to be the first airport of global standards in India.
Major destinations in India are at a 2-hour distance.
Hyderabad promises a catchment of 7.2 cr passengers.

Baggage carousel at the international arrivals block at GMR Airport in Hyderabad.

K.V. Kurmanath

Hyderabad, March 14 When Lufthansa’s flight lands on the 4.26-km-long runway at the Rajiv Gandhi International Airports (RGIA), it will be very difficult to believe that the place was full of uneven land three years ago.

Perhaps not many believed that the GMR-led consortium could achieve the ‘ambitious’ timeline indicated in the concession agreement signed in September 2004.

As Mr Prafulkumar Patel, the Union Minister of Civil Aviation, had observed during the trial aircraft landing in February last, it is for the first time that a greenfield project was started and completed in a single term of a Government.

The Andhra Pradesh Government handed over the 5,400-acre site to the GHIAL (GMR Hyderabad International Airport Ltd) to construct the Rs 1,418-crore airport. Even before the word ‘go’, the estimates went up to Rs 1,760 crore and subsequently to Rs 2,478 crore as the project was revised and re-revised to handle 1.20 crore passengers a year from the originally planned 70 lakh passengers.

Big names

Touted to be the first airport of international standard, the GHIAL roped in top names, right from Malaysia Airports Berhad (which runs 38 commercial airports, including the world’s best airport at Kuala Lumpur) to experts in their relevant fields.

A consortium partner with a stake of 11 per cent, MAHB brings in investments and technical services. Besides, it trained different categories of employees at the Rajiv Gandhi airport at its Penang (Malaysia) facility.

Some of the top names involved in the making of this airport — Menzies of the UK (cargo), Reliance Industries (fuel farm), Menzies Aviation and Bobba and Singapore Airport Terminal Services-Indian Airlines (ground handling), Accor (hospitality), L&T (airside and landside contract) and LSG Sky Chef.

There has been a global interest in the Hyderabad airport project for several reasons. Also, it is coming at a time when the aviation sector in the country has begun to witness unprecedented growth.

Accessibility

Hyderabad, which registered a growth of 44 per cent, promises a catchment of 7.2 crore passengers. All major destinations in India are at a distance of two hours, and it is also accessible to most of the important aviation markets for India globally.

“The experience at the new airport will slowly convince the people that they are enjoying world-class facilities,” Mr Kirankumar Grandhi, Managing Director of GHIAL, told Business Line.

Baggage handling is a case in point. “The baggage will travel through a length of 500 metres, passing through four levels of testing in three levels,” a top executive attending to operations said.

All the passable luggage would go through smoothly to reach the ground handling people who ultimately take it to the planes. But ‘objectionable’ ones would automatically be pushed to a different process that would be handled by security people. If need be, it would be diverted to experts for opening and verification. “You find this sophistication nowhere in India,” he said.

A total of 108 concessions that range from book stores to car-parking to lifestyle shops have been awarded. The oil farm too is a novelty. The open access farm offered convenience to airlines to bet for the best deal.

Hurdles

It, however, is not without any controversies. The closure of the existing airport at Begumpet continues to evoke both emotional and angry opposition. Thousands of employees of Airport Authority have launched a nation-wide strike in protest. Connectivity to the new airport too remains a major issue, with expansion works along several roads leading to the airport still incomplete.

More Stories on : Infrastructure | Modernisation | Airlines | Andhra Pradesh

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