GMR Hyderabad International Airport (GHIA), also known as the Rajiv Gandhi International Airport (RGIA), will soon be operationalising the first phase of the expansion for handling passenger capacity of 34 Million Passengers Per Annum (MPPA) shortly.
RGIA, which was the first Greenfield airport built under Public- Private Partnership (PPP) model in the country and got commissioned in a record 31 months has celebrated the 14th anniversary on Wednesday.
Initially designed for 12 MPPA, the airport has grown in serving more than 21 million every year clocking a 15% growth minus the COVID years. It recorded Air Traffic Movement (ATM) rose to 1.84 lakh in 2020 from about 81,000 in 2009 with destinations increasing from 36 — domestic and international, to 88 till date, said an official spokesperson.
Air cargo volume has increased at the GMR Hyderabad Cargo (GHAC) from 56,700 MT to 1,12,744 MT with pharmaceutical products and engineering goods having the lion’s share. The airport has the unique distinction of introducing innovative l services like - e-boarding facility for all domestic flights and select international flights, express security check facility for passengers traveling with only hand baggage, initiated face recognition trials, domestic baggage screening machines compatible with the automatic tray retrieval system, etc.
GHIA is among the most eco-friendly facilities with 10 MW solar plant meeting 50% power requirements, reducing dependency for power by 12 million units per year and saving around ₹ 90 lakh per month. Reduction in carbon footprint is about 28 lakh kg carbon dioxide equivalent to saving of 1.4 lakh full grown trees, said the spokesperson.
About 40% of daily water usage of the airport is met from recycled water processed by 2 STP (Sewage Treatment Plant) units on campus. Additionally, the airport water usage for at least 100 days can also be met from the rainwater harvested at its own reservoir while the cloud-based central irrigation control system helps save up to 35% water over the conventional mode of irrigation system.
The airport has successfully converted all the elevators from traditional push-button controls to a safer touch-less alternative, introduced AI-enabled advanced queue management solutions at various touchpoints of the airport and IOT enabled smart trolleys to name a few during the pandemic.
And, it has been consistently winning awards in its category from Airports Council International (ACI) – Airport Service Quality (ASQ) Passenger Survey as among the Global Top 3 airports for 9 consecutive years (2009 to 2017) and others.
