GMR against second city airport

Mr P. Sripathy, CEO of the GMR Hyderabad International Airport Limited, has opposed the suggestion by the parliamentary standing committee on civil aviation to reopen Begumpet as a second airport in the city.

Talking to this correspondent after receiving the best airport award from the prestigious Airports Council International at a function in this picturesque southern part of China, Mr Sripathy said everyone was satisfied with the facilities at Shamshabad and there was no need for a second airport.

“There is best road connectivity, and it just takes half an hour to reach the airport from the centre of Hyderabad city,” he said. “We can also handle further increase of passengers and cargo.”

Mr Sripathy added that there was an agreement with the Centre and the AP government that the consent of the GHIAL would be taken in case a need arose for a second airport within 150 km radius of the Shamshabad airport.

The GHIAL CEO said that passengers of Shamshabad airport would soon get food and beverages at reduced prices.

Mr Sripathy said there was a necessity of fund adjustment with the first promoter in case a second airport is needed.

Several projects would also be taken up to increase the non-traffic revenue and more cold storages particularly for the pharma industries in and around Hyderabad will be set up in collaboration with Lufthansa Airways.

“It is indeed a great honour that the Hyderabad airport has got this prestigious award within shortest time of commencing its operations,” he said. “Now we are known to the entire world.”

Mr P.S.Nair, CEO of Delhi International Airport (P) Ltd also received an award for overall performance in Asia Pacific Region for 2009. The Delhi airport is also managed by GMR group.

“It is a moment of pride,” said Mr Nair, who worked earlier as CEO of GHIAL. He said the new terminal of the airport will be formally inaugurated by the Prime Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh, on July 3 this year and formal operations of all services will begin from July 14 night.

With this terminal becoming operational, Delhi will have the biggest airport in India and the fifth biggest in the world.

Passenger facilitators who will help travellers to access different amenities will also be employed once the new terminal starts operation, he said.

Mr Nair also said he only saw media reports about a new airport coming up at Noida and added that he expected the Centre to consult DIAL before considering any such proposal.

Meanwhile, the two day annual aviation conference of the Asia Pacific region concluded on Thursday with the presentation of awards.

Hyderabad airport adjudged amongst top five in world

The Hyderabad international airport has been named amongst the world’s top five in the annual Airport Service Quality (ASQ) passenger survey along with the ones at Seoul, Singapore, Hong Kong and Beijing.

The survey, conducted by Airports Council International (ACI), an autonomous body representing world airports, adjudged the airport in the Andhra Pradesh capital as the best in the five to 15 million passenger capacity category and the fifth best amongst all airports, both worldwide and in the Asia-Pacific region.

“The top awards in the worldwide category go to Seoul Incheon International Airport, Singapore Changi Airport, Hong Kong International Airport, Beijing Capital International Airport, and Hyderabad Rajiv Gandhi International Airport,” said ACI Director General Angela Gittens.

The report was released in Geneva Tuesday.

As a leading industry benchmarking tool, ASQ is designed to help participating airports to measure their improvement year on year.

“2009 was a tough year for airports worldwide. It was a year of balancing tight budgets with high customer expectations for service excellence. The results of the year-long passenger survey help identify the leaders in meeting that challenge,” added the ACI Director.

The Hyderabad International airport is managed by a public-private joint venture consisting of the GMR Group, Malaysia Airports Holdings Berhad and both the State Government of Andhra Pradesh and Airports Authority of India (AAI).