A Lufthansa aircraft would land at midnight of 15 March at the Hyderabad airport in Begumpet and leave for the new international airport at Shamshabad during the early hours of 16 March. From there, it would take off at 2.30am to Frankfurt to become the first aircraft to fly from the new airport built by GMR Hyderabad International Airport Ltd (Ghial). With the opening day near, the new airport is full of activity with trial runs overseen by Munich Airport officials, partners of GMR in the project.
For the last six months, officials of various airlines were busy testing connectivity with their local departure control systems and the efficiency of communication equipment provided at the new airport. Ghial’s chief financial officer Rajgopal Swami spoke to Mint about issues including connectivity to the new airport and on demands to keep the existing airport open even after the new one takes off. Edited excerpts:
On growth: Traffic triggers will decide expansion, says GMR Hyderabad airport CFO Rajgopal Swami.
The project is around 97% complete with works on runways, air traffic control tower and passenger terminal building almost completed. What is remaining is the finishing touches and polishing works. Key features of the airport include fully air-conditioned modular passenger terminal building with some 100,000 sq. ft of space, India’s longest civil aviation runway with 4,260m of length and 60m of width with 7.5m shoulders on both sides, which is capable of handling wide-bodied A380 aircraft. We have full-length taxiway and rapid exit taxiways providing quick turnaround time for aircraft.
What is the passenger and cargo handling capacity?
The new Hyderabad International Airport has been designed to handle 12 million passengers and (has a) 100,000 metric tonne cargo per annum cargo terminal facility that includes a cold storage facility.
What is the investment that has gone into the project?
The ultimate investment is to the tune of $3 billion (Rs11,910 crore) until the final phase. It is not possible to give individual break-up in terms of investment for phases. Investment on further expansion is purely based on traffic triggers.
Bangalore (whose new airport opens on 31 March) plans to begin work on the second phase of the airport terminal soon after the first one is opened. Is it the same with Hyderabad?
Hyderabad has witnessed a phenomenal growth of above 25% in air traffic in the last few years. It is projected to experience similar growth in the years to come, due to the booming IT industry, biotech and pharmaceutical industries in and around the city. In view of these, we have scaled up our airport capacity from the initial seven million passengers to 12 million passengers per annum in the first phase.
Bangalore is also planning a second runway a decade ahead of its plan due to the spurt in demand. What are your plans?