GMR Hyderabad International Airport receives ACI Asia-Pacific Green Airports Gold recognition

HYDERABAD: In recognition of its global efforts towards sustainable and eco-friendly airport operations, GMR Hyderabad International Airport (GHIAL) won the Airports Council International’s (ACI) Green Airports Gold Recognition 2023.

The international airport has won this award, in the 15-35 Million Passengers Per Annum (MPPA) category in the Asia – Pacific region for its single-use plastic elimination process. Starting 2018, this is the sixth consecutive year that the airport had won this award.

In line with the Government of India’s commitment to phasing out single-use plastics, GHIAL has worked extensively with its employees, concessionaires, and service providers to eliminate single-use plastic. GHIAL has organised multiple awareness sessions about the environmental impact of single-use plastic and encouraged them to adopt more sustainable practices.

With GHIAL’s efforts, F&B concessionaires gradually switched over to sustainable eco-friendly alternatives like corn starch plates, wooden spoons, and forks; retailers started using only biodegradable boxes and cover to reduce the airport’s plastic footprint to name a few. Besides this, the Airport also encouraged the use of eco-friendly products such as jute bags through its Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) arm GMR Varalakshmi Foundation (GMRVF).

“As an organisation, we are making every effort to drive sustainability through various means. Elimination of single-use plastic is just one of the measures. We believe that every contribution we make to protect our environment will make a significant impact and will help us address issues to prevent global climate change. Usage of biodiesel, electric vehicles, and EV charging stations are some of the recent initiatives that have also been implemented for the benefit of a greener environment”, ED South and CIO, GMR Group, SGK Kishore said.