Hyderabad International Airport

The Greenfield airport at Shamshabad - Hyderabad, India , which will be commissioned (operational) on March 16 2008 , will be named as Rajiv Gandhi International Airport. This airport will have a world class cargo handling facility. Besides being the first airport under private-public partnership, the airport also has South Asia's longest runway. The runway has a length of 4260 metres and is located at Shamshabad, 30 km from the city.

The cargo handling and courier services have been planned and executed after studying similar facilities at leading international airports around the world, in Japan, the UK, the US and Malaysia.Hyderabad is likely to emerge as the cargo hub of Southeast Asia with the new international airport at Shamshabad, 30 km from here, handling a bulk of express cargo and courier services from the region. Fortunately even after separation of Telangana from Andhra Pradesh , it will be an integral part of Telangana.

Even the top Courier service DHL Express, who were planning to go to Sri Lanka have been offered to come to Hyderabad with land and reports from newspapers suggest that they have accepted Hyderabad as the centre of the their Southeast Asia operations. This new Hyderbad airport's cargo terminal is at an advanced stage of completion and would be ready in time for commercial operations at the airport next month. This airport would incorporate the novel ‘aerotropolis’ concept, housing hotels, commercial centres, hospitals, and residential quarters. The concept is has been implemented at the Seoul, Munich and Hong Kong international airports.In the next phase it is proposed to have an international convention centre. There will be 4 star hotels in addition to the Novotel hotel in the first phase.

Hyderabad International Airport Ltd., is a public-private joint venture between GMR Group, Malaysia Airports Holdings Berhad and both the State Government of Andhra Pradesh and Airports Authority of India (AAI). GMR Group holds 63% of the equity, MAHB 11%, while the Government of Andhra Pradesh and Airports Authority of India each hold 13%.However,the 30 km expressway to the airport also know Outer Ring Road ,is not yet ready and it is going to make the driving time of 90 minutes from the existing 120 driving minutes from Hyderabad.

Initial Phase
A 105,300 sq.m. terminal, Having the capacity to handle 12 million passengers per annum is being constructed. The terminal building will have 12 contact and 30 remote stands for aircraft parking. Other buildings, including the ATC Tower , Technical Building, Cargo (100,000 metric tones capacity), MRO (Maintenance and Repair Overhaul), CFR Station (Crash, Fire and Rescue Station) and Utilities having a combined area of 35,000 sq.m. will also be constructed.This phase is set to be completed by march 16 2008.

Final Phase
The airport will reach its full maturity in this Phase. An additional floor area of 430,000 sq.m. will be constructed bringing the total built up area to 900,000 sq.m.The ultimate master plan is to cater over 40 million passengers per annum. To achieve this, the present master plan allows freedom of expansion to both airside and landside facilities within the Airport site. Further acquisition of land to the north and south will allow expansion of a third and fourth runway system.

Do post your comments , regarding the advantages and disadvantages to city of Hyderabad with the construction of New International Hyderabad Airport.