The opening of the Rs 2,500 crore airport — which was earlier scheduled for March 16 — was delayed within minutes of its inauguration by UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi on March 14.
It is designed to handle 12 million passengers per annum
HYDERABAD: Hyderabad International airport will start operations on Sunday.
“We have received the notification from the ministry of civil aviation to commence operations,” a GMR Hyderabad International Airport Ltd (GHIAL) spokesperson said on Thursday.
The opening of the Rs 2,500 crore airport — which was earlier scheduled for March 16 — was delayed within minutes of its inauguration by UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi on March 14.
The inability of some airlines to shift to the new airport from the existing Begumpet airport was the stated reason.
The lack of an understanding between the domestic airlines and the two third-party ground-handling concessionaires Menzies Bobba and AirIndia SATS, on the pricing for the services was stated to be the main cause.
Currently, the private airlines handle their own ground operations at Begumpet.
With the MoCa notification, the IATA code ‘HYD’ for the existing airport has been transferred to the new Rajiv Gandhi International Airport effective at 0001 hours on Sunday, a GMR spokesperson said.
Interestingly, the agreements between the ground-handling agencies and the domestic airlines were yet to be finalised even as the GHIAL management announced the permission to begin commercial operations on Thursday.
“We are still working out the agreements and are expected to seal them in a day or two,” V S Bobba, managing director, Menzies Aviation, told DNA Money.
”We have reached a broad understanding and we have brought down our rates drastically,” he said refusing to share the financial details.
He conceded the company had brought down rates by two-thirds from the initial pricing.
Significantly, this will extend the breakeven period for Menzies from the earlier three years to six years on account of drastic reduction. Menzies has invested Rs 65 crore on the infrastructure at the airport. SATS, too, is expected to have a similar price structure as Menzies.
The new airport is designed to handle 12 million passengers per annum. A Lufthansa flight from Frankfurt will be the first flight to touch down at the airport early on Sunday.
p_chitti@dnaindia.net
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