Indian Aviation
saw another new beginning on the 14th of March this year when
Chairperson of United Progressive Alliance, Smt. Gandhi inaugurated the
Rajiv Gandhi International Airport, India’s first Greenfield
International Airport. This Airport in Shamshabad, about 25kms. from
the city of Hyderabad was built under Public Private Partnership model.
The Airport is managed by a joint venture promoted by GMR Infrastructure
Ltd.63% ,AAI 13% ,Government of Andhra Pradesh State 13% and Malaysian
Airports Holding Berhad 11%.It was developed to provide a World Class
International Airport spread over 5500 acres, with an inbuilt capacity
to handle 12 million passengers per annum. It has already received
Certification clearance for Aerodrome Licence from the DGCA and
Environmental Clearances from the Andhra Pradesh Pollution Control Board
and also clearance from the Govt. as notified customs zone.
On the 24th
March 2008,the first civil aircraft carrying a passenger load of 276
made its first commercial landing at this brand new Hyderabad Airport to
celebrate the occasion. All the passengers were given a rousing
welcome on arrival. With this the 76 year old Begumpet Airport located
in the centre of Hyderabad became closed to commercial civil aircraft
operations.
This State of
the Art Airport project will create at least half a million direct and
indirect job opportunities and will be a major contributor to the
development of the entire state of Andhra Pradesh in India.
Airports today
are gateways to not only link the globe but engines to drive the
economic growth of the Nation. In today’s time with more and more people
opting for the safest, swiftest mode of travel, that is the air travel,
the need is there to explore possibilities for more and more low cost
solutions in Airport Projects. Perhaps Regional low Cost Airports with
the participation of Private and State Government can be built for the
regional low cost passenger and operated by low cost carriers.
With a booming
Indian Economy and Indian Enterprise the time has come for more and more
experimentations in the Indian Aviation Arena to create more and better
aviation opportunities which are mass based, revamping the old,
reviewing the facilities in hand for the sake of providing better
customer services. Perhaps tomorrow like our own Made In India NANO car
which took the world by a storm, it could be a Made In India NANO
Airport making a toast to future.
Hail Aviation
India! What better time than now! We are all waiting….. to see you
climbing Skywards....