GMR Hyderabad International Airport now bigger & better

The first of its kind under the Public-Private Partnership model in the country, GMR Hyderabad International Airport (GHIAL) was inaugurated in 2008. When it was opened, the sprawling airport was designed for 12 million passengers per annum (MPPA).

Over the years with the continued growth in passenger traffic, the International Interim Departure Terminal and Interim Domestic Arrival Terminal were commissioned to enhance passenger experience and drive operational efficiency. As one of the fastest-growing airports in India, Hyderabad International Airport had been catering to 21 million passengers in FY'19. The airport had recorded robust growth in passenger traffic, with a 4 years CAGR of ~20% during FY'15-FY'19.

Hyderabad International Airport embarked on a major expansion to cater to the rising demand in passenger traffic and augment the passenger handling capacity beyond 34 million people. Improved connectivity with new route development, growth in air traffic and demand for new runway slots also played a major role in the enhancement of the airport.

The new, better, and bigger Hyderabad International Airport will include the construction of additional built-up area that would be integrated with the existing Integrated Terminal Building (at concourse & piers) with additional infrastructure at airside and landside area.

The revamped integrated passenger terminal will increase the area to 379,370 sq m. It will have 149 check-in counters, 26 security screening machines with ATRS, 44 emigration counters and 44 immigration counters. The expanded domestic and international pier buildings will have more lounges, retail, and F&B outlets. With additional infrastructure added to the east and west pier buildings, there will be 44 contact gates, 28 remote departure gates and 9 remote arrival gates available for smooth operations.

Four new Rapid Exit Taxiways (RETs) have been added to enhance runway capacity and improve operational efficiency. These RETs are designed to allow aircraft to taxi off the runaway at relatively shorter distances and hence reduce runway occupancy time, thereby increasing runway capacity.

A new parallel taxiway has been built for effective operation during secondary runway utilisation.

As part of the first phase of the expansion, the East Pier (straight) portion area will be inaugurated for the passengers soon. Spread across 15,742 sq m in three levels, the newly expanded part of the terminal will be integrated with the present terminal. 

To accelerate passenger boarding and disembarking from the aircraft, three aerobridges will be operational.

For contactless and seamless travelling, six E-gates (two for each boarding gate) will be operationalised, where the passengers can walk past for security checks and then board the flight in minimum time thereby reducing the waiting and boarding process. The East Pier straight portion will have six domestic arrival bus gates.

Ensuring convenience, comfort and safety to the passengers, the East pier straight portion will have three travellators (automated passenger walkways) in two levels. Passengers walking through the East pier can now avoid the long walks to board their flights.

To attend to the needs of women and children, two baby-care rooms and two family rooms with all the facilities will be made accessible to women passengers.

To ensure safe operations and seamless baggage and passenger movement, a new tunnel has been built to minimise the time loss during the crisscross movement of Ground Service Equipment (GSE) vehicles and aircraft. The GSE tunnel connects the 42 remote aircraft stands (24 new + 18 existing) on the east side of the airport and the head of stand road, also leading to remote gates area of the expanding passenger terminal.

A first-of-its-kind in the history of any airport in India, the GSE tunnel will minimise the time loss during the crisscross movement of airlines and ground support operation vehicles, equipment, passenger coaches required for turnaround of flights, resulting in the saving of fuel consumption for airlines, ground handlers, airline food caterers etc, thereby reducing the carbon footprint, making Hyderabad International Airport an environment-friendly airport. The annual savings of the carbon emission with this newly built GSE tunnel would be approximately 7,000 tonnes per annum.

Salient features of GSE tunnel

The length of the tunnel is 264 m and has 368 m of approach ramps. The tunnel has a clear span of 10.6 m, comprising 8 m bidirectional carriage way with 1.3 m footpath on either side to enable pedestrian movement. 

The walls of the tunnel have been moulded with cementitious fireproof concrete mix making it fire resistant. It is also equipped with automated fire detection and firefighting systems. Fourteen security cameras have been installed to check on the vehicular movement.

For storm water drainage, all storm water from the tunnel is collected and stored in two underground water storage tanks with a capacity of 60,000 litres each. This water is automatically pumped out when the water reaches a predestined level in the water tanks and further treated and reused for domestic and irrigation purposes.

GHIAL considers environmental protection and sustainability as an integral part of its business and is committed to conducting the operations in an environment-friendly and sustainable manner. Hyderabad International Airport has initiated various energy conservation measures and practices towards a sustainable and energy efficient airport. The 10 MW solar power plant and green passenger terminal buildings are some of the green assets of the airport. Moreover, it has sustained the status of a carbon neutral airport by enhancing the carbon emission reduction measures like, fuel conservation by efficient driving practices and control of refrigerants uses by optimisation of air-conditioning system, electricity consumption reduction by LEDs, and other energy-efficient practices, to name a few.

When GMR Hyderabad International Airport opened in 2008, it ushered in several first-of-its-kind technological innovations for the airport sector in the country, including the first-ever integrated and centralised Airport Operations Control Centre (AOCC) and an array of modern passenger information and display systems. Over the years, GMR-led Hyderabad International Airport has been a pioneer in exploring new technology-driven ways to transform the airport services into a safe and secured contact-less travel experience for passengers. The airport has been at the forefront of deploying technology-enabled solutions to deliver robust security, enhanced passenger experience and efficient operations at the airport.

Hyderabad International Airport is the only airport in the country with a paperless e-boarding facility for all domestic and select international airlines. The innovative end-to-end contactless e-boarding process is safe and seamless. The e-boarding solution fully eliminates the need for manual stamping of boarding cards at security check point. Further, it covers end-to-end all the key passenger processes at the airport. In its latest development, GHIAL is making use of AI-enabled advanced Queue Management Solutions at various touch-points of the airport. This innovative Queue Management System holds AI Video Analytics that monitors various key parameters such as peak passenger waiting time and helps in monitoring social distancing. The advanced video analytics platform analyses the video feed from various cameras to accurately estimate passenger statistics over time.

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