March 23, 2008 New Hyderabad Airport
Opens
with Initial Glitches
Hyderabad
The new Rajiv Gandhi International Airport at Shamshabad near here
began its commercial operations early Sunday when a Lufthansa flight
arrived. But initial hiccups marred the opening day as a KLM flight
from Amsterdam failed to land due to "confusion".
Its pilot diverted the flight to New Delhi, was denied permission,
and finally landed in Mumbai. It was scheduled to land at Shamshabad
at 1.45 a.m.
However, the first flight from Frankfurt and four more flights from
other destinations had a smooth landing at the new airport, about 30
km from the city centre.
GMR Hyderabad International Airport (GHIAL), the developers of the
new airport, said the KLM flight faced problems due to the confusion
over change of aviation code, after the operations were shifted out
from Begumpet airport in the heart of the city.
"The pilot of the KLM aircraft might have had some doubt in his mind
and in the utmost interest of passengers he decided not to land and
diverted the aircraft," said A. Vishwanath, vice president,
corporate planning, GMR.
Subsequently, the Hyderabad-Amsterdam flight was also cancelled and
the passengers were accommodated in a hotel in the airport premises.
"Initial hiccups will be there. We are trying to achieve operational
excellence," said GMR chairman G.M. Rao while welcoming the
passengers and crew of the first flight after the new facility
became operational at midnight.
The Lufthansa aircraft, carrying 276 passengers and crew aboard from
Frankfurt, Germany, landed at 12.25 a.m., marking the commencement
of the much-awaited commercial operations at the new airport.
All passengers and crew members were given a rousing reception on
their arrival at the new airport, which was inaugurated by United
Progressive Alliance (UPA) chairperson Sonia Gandhi March 14.
This is the first greenfield airport built in public-private
partnership and incorporates the best of facilities in Oslo, Hong
Kong, Kuala Lumpur and Singapore airports.
With this, the 76-year-old Begumpet airport located in the centre of
Hyderabad was officially shut down.
The Rs.25 billion airport with the longest runway in Southeast Asia
has been built by GHIAL, a joint venture in which GMR Infrastructure
Ltd holds 63 percent, Malaysia Airports Holding Berhad 11 percent,
AAI 13 percent and the Andhra Pradesh government 13 percent.
Despite the distance from the city and poor connectivity, the
world-class facilities provided at the new airport impressed the
passengers. "This is a wonderful place. It looks as if I am standing
at Dubai or London airport," said Umamaheswar Rao, a passenger.
The new airport was to commence operations March 16 but a row over
ground handling charges, user development fee and the closure of the
existing facility led to the delay.
The low-cost airlines were unhappy over the hefty ground handling
charges levied at the new airport. Employees of the Airports
Authority of India (AAI) also were unhappy with the closing of a
profit-making state-owned civil aviation operations facility at the
old airport, and held protest demonstrations and even stryuck work.
Designed to handle 12 million passengers in the first phase, the new
airport's ultimate capacity is set to be 40 million passengers per
annum and one million tonnes of cargo.
Built by the China State Construction Engineering (Hong Kong), it is
the first airport in India to have no demarcation between
international and domestic terminals, making passenger movement
easier.
It also has a unique airport village with commercial space where
passengers can meet with their friends and relatives.
The airport has a 70-metre-high Air Traffic Control (ATC), equipped
with the state-of-the-art equipment, a world-class cargo terminal,
42 aircraft parking stands with 12 aero-bridges and 30 remote
parking bays.
It incorporates the novel 'aerotropolis' concept on the lines of
Seoul, Munich and Hong Kong international airports that houses
hotels, commercial centres, hospitals and residential quarters.
Boloji.com is owned and managed by Boloji Media Inc Privacy Policy |
Disclaimer
No part of this Internet site may
be reproduced without prior written permission of the copyright holder.
