In the coming weeks, the GMR Hyderabad International Airport Limited (GHIAL) is all set to open its expanded terminal, officials have announced. With this, the first phase of the major expansions will be completed, which was undertaken to cater to the rising demand in air passenger traffic and augment the passenger handling capacity beyond 34 million flyers from 21 million flyers in the year 2019. Apart from the Hyderabad International Airport’s new East Pier (straight) portion area spread across 15,742 square metres on three levels, now the GHIAL added a first-of-its-kind 264-meter long tunnel for movement of Ground Staff Equipment to 42 aircraft stands, according to an IE report.
According to GHIAL, the new Hyderabad International airport, which is bigger and better, will include the construction of an additional built-up area. This area would be integrated with the existing Integrated Terminal Building with additional infra at airside as well as landside area. As part of the expansion’s first phase, soon, the East Pier (straight) portion area, integrated with the present terminal, will be inaugurated for the flyers. Three aerobridges will be operational in order to accelerate passenger boarding and disembarking from the aircraft. There will be six domestic arrival bus gates in the East Pier (straight) portion. It will boast three Travelators on two levels, thus, now, passengers walking through the East Pier can avoid the long walks to board their flights. Additionally, the Hyderabad airport authorities have arranged for two baby-care rooms as well as two family rooms.
The GSE tunnel connects the 42 remote aircraft stands (24 new and 18 existing) on the airport’s east side and the Head of Stand Road, also leading to the remote gates area of the expanding terminal. According to the report, the tunnel will reduce the time lost during the crisscross movement of Airlines as well as ground support operations vehicles, equipment, and passenger coaches. As per a white paper recently released by GHIAL, the fully renovated integrated passenger terminal will increase the area to 379,370 square meters. The terminal will have as many as 149 check-in counters, a total of 26 security screening machines with ATRS, 44 emigration counters as well as 44 immigration counters. There will be more lounges, retail, and F&B outlets in expanded domestic and international pier buildings.
The additional infra added to the east and west pier buildings makes for 28 remote departure gates, 44 contact gates, and 9 remote arrival gates available for smooth operations. In order to allow aircraft to taxi off the runway at relatively shorter distances, four new Rapid Exit Taxiways have been added and hence minimize runway occupancy time, thereby increasing runway capacity. Moreover, a new Parallel Taxiway has been developed for effective operation during secondary runway utilisation.