Hyderabad airport to handle 20 mn passengers in FY 19

The Rajiv Gandhi international airport here is expected to handle 20 million passengers, both domestic and international, during the current fiscal, a top official of the GMR Hyderabad International Airport Limited has said.

"In 2015 we celebrated 10 millionth passenger. In 2018 we almost doubled. This year (FY 19) we would have handled 20 million passengers through our Hyderabad airport.

We have clocked more than 20 per cent annual growth in domestic passengers. If you combine international passengers also we have been doing around 20 per cent during the last three years," he noted.

The airport which handled over 18 million passengers in financial year 2018 has now taken up expansion programme to increase the capacity to 34 to 40 million passengers per annum.

The present terminal was designed to handle 12 million passengers.

Meanwhile, the airport Wednesday inaugurated the Interim International Departures Terminal (IIDT) that is set to commence operations from October 23.

The IIDT is equipped with a host of new technologies including country's first ever remote hand baggage screening facility, which when coupled with the new Automatic Tray Retrieval System (ATRS) hand baggage screening, can offer up to double the passenger throughout at security checkpoints, GMR said in a statement.

Coinciding with the opening of new interim terminal, the Hyderabad Duty Free (HDF) store at the departure level too has been relocated and upgraded to offer an enhanced shopping experience to passengers, it said.

Currently 22 airlines operate international flights from the International Airport here.

On an average the airport handles over 5,500 international departing passengers and 32 international flight departures daily, connecting to 29 global destinations.

Secretary of Ministry of Civil Aviation, Rajiv Nayan Choubey inaugurated the interim terminal in the presence of Shailendra Kumar Joshi Chief Secretary of Telangana, GBS Raju, Business Chairman, Airports, GMR Group and SGK Kishore, CEO, GHIAL among others.