Hyderabad: Not stopping at increasing the number of destinations, the Rajiv Gandhi International Airport here is steaming ahead with a major expansion plan that will see its capacity being raised from the original design of 12 million passengers per annum (MPPA) to 34 million passengers very soon.
As one of the fastest-growing airports in India, RGIA has seen a rapid growth in passenger traffic, catering to 21 million passengers in 2019, which has prompted a major expansion project. In addition to a revamped terminal, the expansion project involves augmentation of both Terminal and Airside areas, according to RGIA sources. Post expansion, the airside infrastructure will be able to accommodate 93 code C aircraft stands (Boeing 737-700, A320 size aircrafts).
The additional aircraft stands will come up in the Western Apron, catering to international operations, where there will additional 17 contact stands and one remote stand, while the Eastern Apron, catering to Domestic Operations, will accommodate additional 17 contact stands and four remote stands. A new remote apron on the far eastern side that can accommodate additional 42 remote stands has already been put into operation.
To ensure safe operations and seamless baggage and passenger movement, a new tunnel is being built to minimize the time loss during the crisscross movement of Ground Service Equipment vehicles and aircrafts, while four new Rapid Exit Taxiways have been added to enhance runway capacity and improve operational efficiency.
These taxiways are designed to allow aircrafts to taxi off the runaway at relatively shorter distances and hence reduce runway occupancy time, thereby increasing runway capacity. A new Parallel Taxiway has also been built for effective operation during secondary runway utilization.
RGIA already is India’s first and only airport with a paperless e- boarding facility for all domestic and international travellers. The e-boarding solution fully eliminates the need for manual stamping of boarding cards.
Now, the airport is making use of AI-enabled advanced Queue Management Solutions, which combines IoT security cameras and AI Video Analytics to monitor parameters such as peak passenger waiting time and help in monitoring social distance.
Over 200 airports in next 3-4 years
Kushinagar: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday said that government is aiming to set up over 200 airports, heliports and waterdromes for seaplanes across the country in the next three to four years.
Addressing people after inaugurating the Kushinagar International Airport in Uttar Pradesh, the Prime Minister said, “The effort will be to have a network of more than 200 airports, heliports and water dome in the nation in the next 3-4 years.” He also said that under the UDAN scheme, more than 900 new air routes have been approved in the last few years, of which air service has started in more than 350. “More than 50 new airports or those which were not in service earlier, have been made operational,” he added.
Weeks after Tata Group emerged as the winning bidder for Air India paving the way for disinvestment of the loss-making carrier, the Prime Minister said the decision on the national carrier will give new energy to the country’s aviation sector. He said the decision on Air India will give new energy to the aviation sector of India.
Tata group has emerged as the winning bidder for Air India, and on October 11, a letter of intent (LoI) was issued to the group.
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