GMR Rajiv Gandhi Hyderabad International Airport would be soon rolling out a pilot project for completely paperless travel using biometric identification of passengers to replace both the ticket and boarding pass, enabling it to become the first smart airport in the country.
Chief Executive Officer S.G.K. Kishore on Wednesday pointed out that the airport is known for pioneering activities such as the successful operation of ‘E-boarding’ and elimination of stamping of hand baggage, tested here for the first time and replicated in airports across the country.
“Being a mid-sized airport, we are in the sweet spot for testing new and innovative technologies and processes.
Wise adoption of technology and innovation has helped us meet an unprecedented passenger growth of over 20% in the last four years,” he explained, as the airport would mark the completion of decade-long operations later this month.
RGIA already has the distinction of being the first greenfield airport under the Public-Private Partnership (PPP) model and was commissioned in a record time of 31 months in March 2008. Ten years later, it will have handled more than 18 million passengers and is on an expansion mode to cater to the passenger demand of over 30 million passengers a year.
From connecting 28 global destinations, it is now touching 60 with the help of nine domestic, 15 foreign and three Indian carriers.
A ‘Passenger is Prime’ programme has also been launched to lead initiatives like introduction of ‘Passenger Service Associates’ to provide personalised assistance at every touch point in the terminal.
The CEO said creation of additional baggage handling capacities, passenger movement spaces and seating areas have helped the airport seamlessly handle nearly 50% more passenger traffic than the original design capacity.
Focus is now on making it a “gateway” airport catering to north Karnataka, south-east Maharashtra, Chattisgarh, Odisha and Andhra Pradesh. “We have identified over 15 cities which we are targeting through our ‘Fly via Hyderabad’ campaign to become a transit hub in the next five to 10 years so that passengers can seamlessly connect to their onward destinations through Hyderabad,” averred Mr. Kishore.
RGIA has been eco-friendly right from the design stage and has bagged the ‘Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design’ (LEED) Silver Certification in 2008 for its unique design allowing maximum natural lighting and other features enabling optimal use of energy and water. It is the second airport in the country to have the edge of the entire taxiway lit with LED lamps and soon, it would be 100% energy efficient with street lights and offices too lit similarly.
