February 10, 2008

Hyderabad International Airport to become operational on March 16

The Rajiv Gandhi International Airport at Shamshabad in Hyderabad received its first commercial test flights on February 12, 2008. The commercial operations are slated to start from March 16, 2008, following its formal inauguration by United Progressive Alliance (UPA) Chairperson, Sonia Gandhi on March 14.

The flights, one each of private full-schedule carriers Kingfisher Airlines (A320) and Jet Airways (B747) landed on the runway of the Shamshabad airport, which has the distinction of being South Asia's longest runway (4,260 m).The first commercial airline to take off on the midnight of March 15 is reported to be the German carrier Lufthansa and on March 16, over 22 airlines will be flying to and from the airport, covering over 35 destinations.

The new international airport is about 25-30 km from Hyderabad. It has been built by Hyderabad International Airport (HIAL), a public-private joint venture between GMR Group (63 per cent), Malaysia Airports Holdings Berhad (11 per cent) and the state government and Airports Authority of India (AAI), which hold 13 per cent each.For further information on this mega venture please visit www.newhyderabadairport.com.

1 comment:

Unknown said...

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