GMR Hyderabad International Airport celebrating 15 years; capacity to go up to 34 mn passengers per year

HYDERABAD: GMR Hyderabad International Airport Ltd (GHIAL), which began its operations in March 2008, will be expanding to meet the passenger demand, as the work in progress on the expansion of the airport will enable the airport to enhance its capacity over a period of time to cater to over 34 million passengers per annum (MPPA).

The GHIAL was initially designed for 12 MPPA.

As part of the first phase of the expansion, the East Pier (straight) portion area was commissioned. Spread across 15,742 square meters in three levels, the newly expanded part of the terminal is integrated with the present terminal

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The new International Departure Hall at Hyderabad Airport became operational on November 28, 2022. The newly built International Departure Hall is also integrated with the existing terminal building. The GHIAL has also recently operationalized its new International Arrival Hall. Spread across a 12,715 sqm area, the new arrival hall is designed to give passengers a soothing experience with its beautiful indoor landscape, soothing water bodies, and captivating designed feature walls.

Moving into the post- pandemic era, the GMR group is are seeing a fast recovery and an uptick in passenger traffic which is a positive sign for the industry and the economy as a whole. The GMR Hyderabad International Airport recorded over 1.75 million Passenger footfalls in May 2022. The airport witnessed over 1.5 million domestic passengers and around 0.27 million international travelers, in that month. Recently, the airport recorded over 1.82 million passenger footfalls in February 23 and witnessed over 1.5 million domestic passengers and around 0.28 million international travelers.

The airport is expecting to see continued growth in the air travel industry in India

It now connects more than 80 domestic and international destinations.

Fifteenth Anniversary on March 23

The airport first opened its door to travelers around the world in March 2008. Crafting experience over 15 years, the Hyderabad airport is a perfect amalgamation of expanse and comfort, vibrant, efficient, secure and enjoyable. Since then, the airport has become the hub for southern India connecting people across India and the world.

·Redefining the standards of service, design and the business of air travel, GMR Hyderabad International Airport Ltd. (GHIAL) is all set to celebrate its 15th Anniversary on March 23, 2023. GMR Hyderabad International Airport launched #DestinationCelebration campaign to commemorate the 15th anniversary of the airport. The campaign brings to life the airport as a destination of emotions from every walk of life. The Hyderabad airport is a destination to celebrate from where you start- the thrill of a new journey-an experience, a memory, hope, expectations, aspirations and beyond. The campaign captures the various emotions of celebration. The campaign consists of short format digital film for digital and social media, on-ground activities, exclusive retail and F&B offers and promotions for travelers, musical events by renowned artists from the city and acrobatics performance by international artists from Dubai.

Hyderabad Airport is operated by a joint venture company promoted by the GMR Group (63%) in partnership with Airports Authority of India (13%), the Government of Telangana (13%) and Malaysia Airports Holdings Berhad (11%)

The airport was commissioned in a record time of 31 months with an initial capacity of 12 million passengers per annum (MPPA) and 1,50,000 MT of cargo handling capacity per year.

It was the first greenfield airport under Public Private Partnership (PPP) model in the country

With the inauguration of the airport in 2008, it ushered in a number of first-of-its-kind technological innovations for the airport sector in the country, including the first- ever integrated and centralized Airport Operations Control Centre (AOCC) and an array of modern passenger information systems and technological initiatives

Timeline of landmarks

· November 2015 - A 5 MW solar energy power plant commissioned at GHIAL; July’ 2021 - Second phase 5 MW solar power plant commissioned. With this 10 MW solar power generation, 50 % of the energy requirements of Hyderabad Airport are met.

· December 2015 - First airport in India to offer end-to-end E-boarding facility for all domestic flights, offering a seamless and fully paperless experience for the passengers. Today all the domestic services operating from Hyderabad International Airport are on the e-boarding system, making Hyderabad the only airport in the country to offer 100% ‘stamping-free’ travel to its domestic passengers.

· August 2017 - First and only airport in the country to offer ‘Express Security Check’ facility for passengers traveling with only hand baggage.

· April 2019 – DGCA Permits GHIAL to use a stand-by Secondary Runway during night times.

· July 2019 - Hyderabad International Airport became the first airport in India to initiate Face Recognition Trials.

· September 2019 - GMR led Hyderabad International Airport became India’s first airport to induct a Cloud-based Central Irrigation Control System.

· November 2019 – Under the Government of India’s ‘One Nation – One Tag’, the GHIAL introduced FasTag Car Park system at the airport.

· March 2020 – The GHIAL became Single-use Plastic-free airport from March 1, 2020

· In line with the Government of India’s signature DigiYatra programme, the GHIAL rolled out the Digital processing of passengers as a proof of concept through the DigiYatra platform from 18th Aug 2022 for three months.

· To ensure safe operations and seamless baggage and passenger movement, a new tunnel has been built to minimize the time loss during the crisscross movement of Ground Service Equipment (GSE) vehicles and Aircraft. The GSE tunnel connects the 24 new remote aircraft stands and 18 existing remote stands on the east side of the airport to contact stands and the expanding passenger terminal. The annual savings of the carbon emission with this newly built GSE tunnel would be approximately 7,000 tonnes per annum

· The GHIAL has recently launched two sustainable initiatives, an EV (Electric Vehicle) charging station at Main Car Park and a Bio-Diesel Filling station at the Public Transportation Center (PTC)

New Destinations & Airlines

· Recently the A350-900 medium- haul, wide-body aircraft was inaugurated between the Hyderabad-Singapore sector

· New Destinations and airport connected from HYD Airport – Dhaka; Baghdad; Don Mueang International Airport, New Goa International Airport, Mopa

· New Airlines Commenced from HYD Airport - Akasa Air, Nok Air

GMR Hyderabad Air Cargo (GHAC)

· Hyderabad Airport is offering a state-of-the-art unique integrated cargo facility with 150,000 MT of cargo handling capacity per annum.

· A major highlight of the Hyderabad Airport Cargo facility is the unique ‘Pharma Zone’.

· The Hyderabad Airport Cargo Terminal has been certified with the World Health Organization’s Good Storage and Distribution Practices (WHO-GSDP).

· GHAC has inducted a large multi-ULD Cool Dolly, which makes it one of India’s largest centres for the handling of temperature sensitive cargo up to -20 degree C. The terminal also offers one of India’s largest fleets of modern temp-controlled Cool Containers viz. Cool Dolly, Envirotainer, VaQtec, etc.

· The Cargo Terminal has a 180X180 large tunnel X-Ray to enable screening of large temp controlled Shipper Built Units.

· Recently GHAC team played a pivotal role in making the Formula E Championship event possible in Hyderabad. The cargo division of the airport handled around 90 tons of race car components and eight spectacular racing cars.

· Lufthansa Cargo has recently resumed its scheduled freighter services from GMR Hyderabad International Airport. Lufthansa Cargo will be operating Boeing 777 freighter connecting Frankfurt-Mumbai-Hyderabad-Frankfurt. Lufthansa cargo resumes freighter operations after more than a year.

· Quikjet Cargo Airlines has recently launched its maiden freighter service from GMR Hyderabad International Airport.

GMR Aerocity - Building growth engine for the region

· Hyderabad Airport offers a unique proposition of adding economic value to the state and the entire region. The airport offers the largest airport city in India. Around 1,500 acres of land have been dedicated to developing the airport city

· GMR Aerocity offers theme based, anchor-led development zones which include key ports and establishments, viz. Business Port, Health Port, Edu Port, Fun Port, Logistics Park and Aerospace Park.

· The Key attraction of Hyderabad Airport City is GMR Aerospace & Industrial Park. The Aerospace Park offers the right infrastructural support for companies dealing in MRO (Maintenance, Repair and Overhaul) services.

· The Aerospace & Industrial park at Hyderabad Airport also houses companies like SAAZ Imaging Systems Pvt. Ltd., Global Aerotech India Private Ltd, Turbo Aviation, SAS Applied Research and Lab Materials Pvt. Ltd., among others. World’s largest e-tailer Amazon has also invested at Hyderabad Airport City with its largest fulfillment center in India.

· The Delhi Public School (DPS) is all set to launch its campus at GMR AeroCity Hyderabad in March 2023. The school will commence from the academic year 2023-24.

· Amara Raja Batteries has recently signed a land lease agreement with GMR to set up an Advanced Energy Research and Innovation Centre at GMR Aerospace & Industrial Park, AeroCity Hyderabad. This Centre will be a one-of-a-kind institute in India that will pioneer the development of advanced clean energy technologies for mobility and energy storage.

· GMR Aero Technic (GAT) has recently signed an agreement with Spirit AeroSystems to be the Spirit Authorized Repair Centre in India for its Boeing and other aircrafts.

· Safran Group has recently inaugurated two new facilities for Safran Electrical & Power India (SEPI) and Safran Aircraft Engines Hyderabad (SAEH). Located at the GHASL Industrial Park, the two industrial facilities will produce electrical harnesses for civil and fighter jets and components for advanced aircraft engines.

· GMR Hyderabad Aviation SEZ Ltd (GHASL), and Schneider Electric India Pvt Ltd (SEIPL), the leading French energy and automation solutions provider, recently entered into an agreement to build and lease a state-of-the-art manufacturing facility at GMR Industrial Park located at Hyderabad Airport.

Awards/Achievements:

· GHIAL has been adjudged as having the ‘Best Airport Staff in India and South Asia’ in Skytrax World Airport Awards 2022. The airport has also progressed in its overall ranking, moving from 64th position in 2021 to 63rd position in the 2022 World’s Top 100 Airport league.

· GMR Hyderabad International Airport has received accolades in the annual Airports Council International (ACI) Airport Service Quality (ASQ) survey. Hyderabad Airport has been adjudged as the ‘Best Airport of 15 to 25 Million Passengers Per Annum (MPPA)’ in the Asia-Pacific region for 2022.

· GHIAL has recently received Industry recognition for its Business Excellence (BE) journey from the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII). GHIAL was recognised for the maturity of its Business in the Gold category at the 30th edition of the Quality Summit held at Bangalore

· GHIAL has clinched a Special Award in appreciation of its efforts in Energy Conservation for the year 2021-22 by the Government of Telangana, Department of Energy, under the ‘Commercial Building’ category.

· GMR led Hyderabad International Airport has clinched the prestigious “National Energy Leader” and “Excellent Energy Efficient Unit” awards at the 23rd National Award Ceremony for ‘Excellence in Energy Management’ organized by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) – Godrej Green Business Centre (GBC).