The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh / Hyderabad News : Shamshabad airport to have terminal for low-cost airlines

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Friday, Mar 28, 2008
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Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh - Hyderabad

Shamshabad airport to have terminal for low-cost airlines

Special Correspondent

User development fee on international travellers likely

International airport confronted with teething troubles, admits official
53 trials conducted in various aspects of running the airport

HYDERABAD: The GMR Hyderabad International Airport (GHIAL) will have an exclusive terminal for low-cost airlines, taking cue from Singapore and Malaysia airports, according to A. Viswanath, vice-president (corporate planning and risk management).

Also, domestic travellers will not have to pay any user development fee (UDF) until the proposed regulator fixes the amount. “We have not decided the date from which to levy the UDF on international travellers. It may begin sometime next month after the services optimise to a certain level,” said Mr. Viswanath at an international conference on infrastructure here on Thursday.

Making no bones in admitting that the new international airport was confronted with teething troubles, he urged the passengers to bear with the company till the initial glitches were resolved. He observed that challenges became known only after a project was put in place. Creating infrastructure was just 20 per cent of a project, while the rest lay in putting life into it. Only then would public-private partnership projects click, he observed.

Litmus test

The GHIAL, he said, conducted 53 trials with 42 agencies involved in various aspects of running the airport, including security, immigration, customs, various retail stores and concessionaires. Embedding all of them into the new system was quite a task. Though the trials were very successful “the ultimate litmus test is the first passenger” said Mr. Viswanath. “After the first passenger arrived, our problems began to surface,” he observed.

Giving an account of what new airports would encounter, Mr. Viswanath said that the first 10 to 12 days, it would be a havoc-like situation. “At this stage, we try to stop crumbling.” In the next phase (stabilisation within two months), the integrated services would be optimised. After the sustaining phase of four to five months, one could see the smile on the faces of passengers.

Regarding connectivity, he felt that phased improvement would surely impress the passenger experience in travelling from and to the new airport.

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