Rajiv Gandhi International Airport

Hyderabad, July 2, 2008 : The first 100 days at Rajiv Gandhi International Airport has been a challenging and learning experience. Despite the recent ATF price increase and rationalizing of routes and frequencies by airlines, the airport has accomplished the following in the last 100 days since being commissioned on March 23, 2008.

Some of the key milestones achieved include the following:

• Handled 1.9 million passengers - domestic & international
• 24, 769 ATM - domestic & international i.e. 244 per day, 10% higher than the corresponding period of the previous year
• 15, 209 MT of cargo - 8% higher than corresponding period of the previous year

Two new international airlines commenced operations from Hyderabad. Gulf Air with an A 320 aircraft has started daily flights to Bahrain from Tuesday, July 1 2008. Air India Express also started their daily flight to Dubai last month. Jet Airways too started two new destinations to cater to the growing demand of passengers from Tirupati & Rajahmundry.

The fuel off-take at the airport has registered significant growth since commissioning and is now averaging approximately 1000 KL per day. The incentives from the State government on sales tax and the unique Open Access system introduced for the first time in the country have contributed to this growth.

Mr. Viswanath Attaluri, Chief Commercial Officer, GHIAL, said “We are very happy with this important milestone and our continuous focus on Safety, Security and Passenger Experience is showing results. The operation stabilisation both in terms of aircraft turnaround time and baggage handling system has also significantly improved over the last 100 days. We would like to thank all our stakeholders - government (both State & Central) and regulatory agencies (Customs, Immigration, CISF, MET Department & Plant Quarantine & Health), airlines and our valued passengers and shall strive to offer better services going forward.”

Air India has commissioned their lounges at domestic and international departures. Jet Airways and Kingfisher are also shortly commissioning their lounges. Plaza Premium, which is operating the paid lounges at both international and domestic departure lobbies has also received overwhelming response from the passengers.


The airport, which has been designed to be environment friendly, has achieved savings in energy consumption (20%) and water consumption (25%). RGIA will be second airport in the world to be LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environment Design) certified, once we get the official certificate for the same.

The other value-added services launched during the 100 days include:

• Mobile edition of the website (http://mobile.hyderabad.aero) has been launched to give up-to-date flight information to the people
• Porter services at affordable prices
• Valet services for passengers
• Free buggy services within the terminal building and car parking area
  

The passengers can avail a variety of transport options to reach the airport or the city based on their requirements. These include the following:

• Aeroexpress - 35 AC shuttle coach from five designated locations - Rs 95 inclusive of taxes with 30 minute intervals
• Radio taxis - over 700 AC taxis run by two operators
• Executive car service - over 100 high-end cars between three operators
• APSRTC buses besides auto-rickshaws and other third party taxi operators from Public Transportation Centre (PTC)
• Free AC Volvo Coach for passengers to reach the terminal from PTC and vice versa

The Food & Beverage options at the airport have also improved over the last 100 days and now the passenger has a variety of choices and at affordable rates. Pizza Hut and KFC have opened their outlets in addition to those already present and Mc Donald is planning to start their outlet very soon.

About GHIAL:

GMR-HIAL is a joint venture company promoted by GMR Infrastructure Ltd., (63%); Malaysia Airports Holding Berhad (11%), Airports Authority of India (13%) and Government of Andhra Pradesh (13%), with a mandate to develop a world-class international grade airport spread over 5,500 acres in Shamshabad, about 25 kms from the main city of Hyderabad.

This project - Rajiv Gandhi International Airport - is set to position Hyderabad as a prominent player in the global aviation map contributing to the prosperity, development and economic well-being of the region.