Passengers and crew of Lufthansa flight LH 752 with 276 on board were accorded a welcome by GMR group Chairman G M Rao as the aircraft landed on time at Shamsabad at 12:30 am, after which they were treated to a live performance by ‘pattu’ folk artistes of Andhra Pradesh.

RGIA was illuminated and adorned with buntings for the occasion and the staff were in festive mood, despite rains pummeling the twin cities of Hyderabad-Secunderabad since the evening.

The switchover due on March 16 had to be postposed following a request from some private airlines for more time besides “operational reasons” such as shifting of equipment.

Domestic operations will commence with a Spice Jet flight from Ahmedabad at 12:50 am followed by five more arrivals and departures, including Air India flight 601 from Mumbai.

RGIA is billed as the first “Greenfield airport”, being built from scratch, and boasts of “world class” facilities that would help put the twin cities on the global circuit.

The Rs 2,500 crore airport spread over in 5,500 acres is a joint venture of GMR group, which has 63 per cent stake, Malaysia Airport Holdings (11 per cent), Airport Authority of India and Andhra Pradesh government (13 per cent each).

It also claims to have the tallest air traffic control (ATC) tower in the country at 75 metres and Asia’s longest runway at 4.26 km.