Hyderabad Airport to have second runway in three years

The Rajiv Gandhi International Airport (RGIA) here is in expansion mode. To meet future needs of the growing airport, the Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao wants Hyderabad Airport to be developed with international standards and also a wonderful Airport City with all the facilities.

He wanted the terminal to be extended and a second runway to be constructed following an increase in the rush of the passengers and wanted Hyderabad metro rail to be extended to the Airport.

Reviewing the aviation sector here on Tuesday, KCR suggested that since Hyderabad is becoming a venue for several international conferences, meetings, a convention centre to accommodate 12,000 people and exhibition centres should be constructed near the airport. He said for this, the state government will extend all the support and assured that he himself will be present at the groundbreaking ceremony of the Airport City.

The GMR representatives have informed the CM that as on date, the Airport is getting 400 flights a day and every year 1 crore 70-lakh passengers are using the airport. They said the growth rate of formation of the Telangana State was 7 percent and it reached 20.4 percent after the formation of the State and is expected to increase in the near future, the GMR representatives said.

The existing runway and terminal will serve 2.5 crore passengers. However, keeping in view the growth rate, there is a need to have another terminal and construction of a second runway, they said. They assured that the second runway will be built in next three years and they wanted government’s cooperation in this regard, which the CM had agreed to.

GMR Group Chairman Grandhi Mallikarjuna Rao has given Rs 12.28 Crore Cheque to the CM towards the state government’s share of dividend (13%) from the earnings from the Airport.