New Hyderabad airport has handled 93,000 passengers

Hyderabad (IANS) The Rajiv Gandhi International Airport, Shamshabad, which began its operations early Sunday, has handled 93,000 passengers in the past five days. The new airport, with world-class facilities, handled around 15,000 international and 78,000 domestic passengers till March 27. “Thus the airport is handling an average of 18,500 passengers per day,” said a statement by GMR Hyderabad International Airport Ltd (GHIAL) here Friday.

The total air traffic movement during the period was around 1,500. The air traffic movement is defined as one-round movement of an aircraft – landing and taking off.

“The performance of check-in, baggage handling and fuel farm systems has been steadily improving over the last five days,” said the statement, which came amid reports in a section of media about the lack of proper facilities and poor connectivity.

The first greenfield airport in public-private partnership has been built at a cost of Rs.25 billion ($627.8 million) at Shamshabad, about 30 km from the city. The old airport was in the heart of the city.

It claimed that the international pilot community has appreciated the runway and air traffic control systems installed at the new airport.

On connectivity to the new airport, it said the operation of 30 AC buses from four locations in the city is getting a positive response from the public.

“GHIAL is working with the operator to increase both the number of buses and locations in the coming days to improve travel convenience to the airport for travellers.”

Two other operators are also operating 700 radio taxis, which are charging a flat rate of Rs 15 per km.