United Progressive Alliance chairperson Sonia Gandhi today inaugurated the Rajiv Gandhi International Airport at Hyderabad - India's first airport to be operational under the public-private partnership (PPP) model.
The formal commissioning of the greenfield airport was witnessed by about half-a-dozen union ministers, Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister YS Rajasekhara Reddy and his cabinet colleagues amidst much fanfare with the airport theme song rendered by music director A R Rahman playing in the background.
Sonia commissioned the airport by lighting the lamp and unveiling the plaque and a portrait of Rajiv Gandhi in the uniform of a pilot. She said though she was reluctant to attend such commissioning events, this one was special as Rajiv Gandhi had completed his advanced pilot training in Hyderabad.
Located in the southern suburb of Shamshabad, the airport has been built at a cost of Rs 2,478 crore by GMR Hyderabad International Airport (GHIAL), a joint venture promoted by GMR Infrastructure (63%), Airports Authority of India (13%), Andhra Pradesh government (13%) and Malaysian Airports Holding Berhad (11%). GHIAL has the mandate to build, own and operate the airport for 60 years.
The airport will start commercial operations from Sunday, and the first flight to take-off on March 16 will be the German carrier Lufthansa. Over 22 airlines will be flying to and from the airport that day covering over 35 destinations.
The facility, spread over an area of 5,495 acre (Begumpet airport area 790 acre), is south Asia's first A380-compatible airport, which has the longest runway at 4,260 metres. It has an initial capacity to handle 12 million passengers per year scaling up to 40 million in the final phase, which will begin once annual passenger flows cross 20 million. The corresponding figures for cargo handling are 100,000 tonne and one million tonne.
The airport has been designed by Hong Kong-based architects Winston Shu and Gumund Stokke.
According to GMR Group chairman G Mallikarjuna Rao, the airport combines the best of technology, design and features making it on par with any of the leading airports globally. It has been executed five months ahead of schedule setting new benchmarks for the aviation sector in the country for developing world-class airports.
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