GMR Hyderabad International Airport Achieves ‘ACI Airport Health Accreditation’ for Safe Travels

In the present COVID-19 pandemic times, when passenger safety is the top most priority of airport operators, GMR led Hyderabad International Airport has achieved the Airport Council International’s (ACI) Airport Health Accreditation (AHA). The accreditation is the outcome of the rigorous assessment of Hyderabad International Airport on the alignment of its health measures with the ACI Aviation Business Restart and Recovery guidelines and ICAO (International Civil Aviation Organization) Council Aviation Recovery Task Force (CART) Recommendations along with industry best practices. Hyderabad is among the first airports in Asia Pacific region to have received this coveted accreditation.

The ACI assessment covered the health and safety measures undertaken by GMR Hyderabad International Airport for passengers and staff in all the terminal areas including departures, arrivals and transfers, transportation services, food and beverage services, escalators and elevators, lounges, facilities, baggage claim area etc. The assessment also captured the initiatives that airport took for safety and well-being of employees and stakeholders.

With growing passenger confidence, the airport is steadily seeing an increase in passenger traffic. In the month of August 2020, the airport has handled on an average of over 16,000 domestic passengers daily and over 170 domestic air traffic movements daily amidst the best in industry safety standards and contactless travel options. Hyderabad International Airport has regained its 50 domestic destination (till 31^st August) out of 55 pre-covid destinations. The top five destinations in terms of passenger footfall include – Delhi, Kolkata, Chennai, Bangalore and Mumbai.

Mr. Pradeep Panicker, CEO, GHIAL, said, “ACI Airport Health Accreditation emboldens our commitment and consistent drive towards the safety of passengers and entire airport community. This has been a collaborative effort and we thank everyone at the airport who have put in their heart and soul throughout this period of global pandemic. During these extraordinary times, Hyderabad International Airport has been agile and adaptive to the latest Govt. regulations and norms to ensure airport operations are running even during the lockdown, keeping essential services active with utmost level of health and hygiene for everyone with consistency and quality assurance.”

Mr. Luis Felipe de Oliveira, Director General, ACI World, said, “We congratulate Rajiv Gandhi International Airport for being accredited through ACI’s Airport Health Accreditation programme which demonstrates that they are focused on the health and welfare of travellers, staff, and the public. Public confidence in air travel will be crucial as our industry prepares to sustain continuing operations, and Rajiv Gandhi International Airport is leading the way by providing to passengers and employees high globally-recognized standards on health and hygiene.”

This accreditation is a testimony for all health and hygiene precautions like contact-less boarding experience, physical distancing, sanitization measures, disinfection initiatives that are being implemented across the airport to ensure passenger safety.

To bolster the restart of aviation post COVID-19, heightened hygiene standards has become one of the key priorities of Hyderabad International Airport to safeguard the operations and restore passenger confidence. With advanced disinfection solutions in place, the airport is consistently working towards delivering a safe screening experience, a clean public environment, and necessary protection for the workforce. Some of the key initiatives include the  contact-less self-check-in kiosks, contact-less entry into airport, hygiene stations equipped with contact-less sanitizer dispensers, UV Sanitization Tunnel for ATRS (Automatic Tray Retrieval System), UV Ovens for safe shopping, digital touch-less mode of payments, touch-less elevator, cab sanitization at the airport car park, plastic partition between the taxi driver and passengers for airport cabs, NETC (National Electronic Toll Collection) FASTag enabled contact-less airport car parking, among many others.

The Airport Health Accreditation (AHA) Programme was launched by ACI in July 2020, to assess the new health measures and procedures adopted by airports as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. In accordance with the International Civil Aviation Organisation’s (ICAO) Council Aviation Recovery Task Force (CART) recommendations, the programme assesses procedures like cleaning and disinfection, physical distancing, staff protection, physical layout, passenger communications and passenger facilities. These CART guidelines are very well aligned with the ACI Aviation Business Restart and Recovery guidelines.

Contact: 

Prashant Kumar
Lead – Corp Comm (GHIAL)

Email: prashant.kumar@gmrgroup.in