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Future glimpses A view of the Shamshabad airport’s passenger terminal

The plane’s wings almost kiss the shanties at the Begumpet Airport as its engine roars and the aircraft takes off after a bouncy ride on the tarmac. Then, under us are the familiar landmarks of Hyderabad: flyovers, billboards, small lakes, one huge lake fringed with greenery and ringed with asphalt, the statue of Buddha in the middle, then it is the brown, red and black shades of the Deccan plateau before we are into the clouds. A few hours later, we are back, the landscape has changed there are two big lakes one long road and small plots flattened, manicured and road rollers flattening the red earth that used to be paddy fields. Ahead is the runway with brighter lights that glint off the sheet of water on the tarmac. Instead of the few aerobridges, there are rows of them connected to the airport terminal that magnificently comes into view: A sheer sheet of glass that rises like a gigantic reflecting wall. Before you say wow, cross the aerobridge, be greeted by the lady with folded hands and run to use the important room, be warned, it is not ready. Maybe it is ready with Toto accessories but is a secret.

Welcome to the Shamshabad Airport.

So, what else has changed? For the gleam and shine you have to invest both time as well as money. From the Mehdipatnam junction the airport is 28 km, race the road at 100 km per hour (on March 16, at 1 a.m. to catch the first Lufthansa flight out of the airport to Frankfurt) you will reach it in 17 minutes. But perhaps you don’t live in Mehdipatnam. Perhaps you are catching the 1 p.m. flight, then you can kiss goodbye to two hours of your life to reach the airport.

The 70-metre ATC tower

Once there, you will have to shell out Rs. 700 for the user development charge per ticket. Of course you can get your family with you for that final hug at the unique ‘passenger village’ but who would want to travel 60 km for a hug. The parting done, you will stand for a few seconds in the rows of check in counters, the public address system is clarity unlike the current cacophony. Any counter in this CUTE (Common User Terminal Equipment) system will do unlike now; the price: the airline will have to pay Rs. 8000 per flight that will be passed onto you. The space inside the passenger terminal is 100,000 sq ft and you would be delighted to miss the scowl-faced white uniformed panhandlers inside. The terminal has a modular design which is somewhat like Lego bricks model that can be scaled up if more bricks are there, more passengers are willing to fly or more money is available.

If you have just landed, your baggage will be processed faster with more automation coming into play. Again a financial caveat: With route navigation facility charges, landing and parking fees, space rentals, ground handling costs that will be different from the Airport Authority of India airports pegged at 12 per cent of the air ticket, it is going to be a different experience. Once these costs go up the airlines will add them to your ticket.

Outside the terminal is the 4,260-metre runway that makes landing as smooth as knife through a butter slice as technicians from Munich Airport work on the calibration of the equipment and landing facility. And this airport will turn the Begumpet Airport into a piece of memory.

The Begumpet airport in which exactly 60 years ago Osman Ali Khan said Namaste to Vallabhbhai Patel marking the end of Nizam’s rule.

■ 125 AC buses will ferry passengers to the airport at 15-minute intervals during peak hours and at 30-minute intervals at non-peak times. The price per trip is expected to be about Rs. 95.

■ Bookstores by Odyssey and Landmark.

HMSHost to operate the food and beverages section with one outlet being Indian Paradise Hyderabadi Biryani.

■ Walk through duty free shop to be operated by Nuance-Shoppers’ Stop.

■ Accor to operate the airport hotel.

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