Hyderabad airport expansion will commence by Jan

The expansion work at the Rajiv Gandhi International airport would start by January and it is expected to be completed by the end of 2019, a top GMR Hyderabad International Airport Ltd (GHIAL) executive said.

"The expansion work will start by January. Already, the forecourt expansion works have started. May be, by end of 2019, early 2020, the new expanded terminal will be available," GHIAL, CEO, SGK Kishore told reporters at an event.

He said the airport is handling around 12,000 flights in a month. "Currently, we are handling around 12,000 flights in a month... Indian civil aviation is said to be third largest market by 2025... We see a lot of potential both for domestic and international flights. We are enhancing our capacity both on the air side and terminal side," he said, reports PTI.

Hyderabad airport has witnessed 15.24 million passengers per annum in FY2016-17, registering a growth of approximately 22 per cent in overall passenger traffic and 23 per cent growth in air traffic movements over FY2015-16, a GMR release said. At present, 10 domestic carriers connect Hyderabad with 39 domestic destinations. The airport also connects 18 international destinations with 16 foreign and three Indian carriers.

Kishore said effort is being made to make the airport a leader in leveraging technology with the number of passengers using the option of self-check-in going up. "Technology-wise, we want to be a leading airport. We have to bring in more and more technology...At least 40 to 50 per cent of the facilities in the expanded terminal will be using technology,...self check-in...This may happen in two-two-halfyears," he said.