New Hyderabad greenfield airport ready for inauguration despite AAI employees protest

Hyderabad, Mar 13 : The Rajiv Gandhi International (greenfield) Airport (RGIA) at Shamshabad will be formally inaugurated by Congress Party President Sonia Gandhi on Friday, even as the Airports Authority of India (AAI) employees non cooperation movement shows no signs of ending.

The 24.78 billion rupee airport is located about 35 km from Hyderabad on the Hyderabad-Bangalore National Highway.

The new airport has incorporated the best of facilities available at Oslo, Hong Kong, Kuala Lumpur and Singapore airports.

For its eco-friendly design, the airport was awarded the Leadership in Energy and Environmental design (LEE) certificate. Boston Airport was the first airport in the world to be awarded with this certification.

The airports unique design maximises the use of sunlight within the building and minimises heat into the building.

"This is very unique in the sense that it's a private-public partnership. We have a very eco-friendly design, which is based on the free flow of passengers. The visibility from one area to another area is really great in this airport," said P. Kameswara Rao, incharge passenger terminal, RGIA.

In its initial phase, the airport will handle 12 million passengers and over 100,000 tonnes of cargo per annum.

At full capacity, the new airport will be able to handle over 40 million passengers and a million tonnes of cargo in a year.

The 4.60-kilometre-long runway is A380 aircraft compatible and complete and so is the equally long parallel taxiway that can also be used for emergency take-offs.

The seven-storey passenger terminal building built by the China State Construction Engineering (Hong Kong) is spread over 100,000 square metres. The 42 parking bays (with a parking space of 3,600 cars), cargo building, apron and fuel farm are also ready.

The airport will have 60 check-in-counters with Common User Terminal Equipment (CUTE) and 16 self check-in kiosks. The 2,500-sqm complex will also have 12 contact boarding bridges, 45 immigration counters and extensive retail and shopping outlets.

ANI