GMR Hyderabad International Airport Reveals the New Airside

Ushering in a new chapter in the aviation industry, India’s first Greenfield airport the GMR Hyderabad International Airport Ltd. (GHIAL) was inaugurated in 2008. The first of its kind under the Public-Private Partnership model in the country, the prestigious project was also the first for the GMR Group that was venturing into the aviation industry as an airport developer. To begin with, the sprawling airport was designed for 12 million passengers per annum (MPPA).
 
Over the years as one of the fastest-growing industries in the country, the aviation market has seen exponential growth in passenger traffic. With rising demand in this sector, India’s domestic and international aircraft movement has seen steady growth. As one of the fastest-growing airports in India, Hyderabad International Airport had been catering to 21 million passengers in FY’19. The Airport had recorded robust growth in passenger traffic, with a 4 years CAGR of ~20% during FY’15-FY’19. 
 
Hyderabad International Airport embarked on a major expansion to cater to the rising demand in passenger traffic and augment the passenger handling capacity beyond 34 million people. Improved connectivity with new route development, growth in air traffic and demand for new runway slots also played a major role in the enhancement of the airport.
 
In addition to a revamped terminal, Expansion Project involves the augmentation of both Terminal and Airside areas. Post expansion, the airside infrastructure will be able to accommodate 93 code C aircraft stands (Comprising of 44 Contact and 49 Remote Stands).

To enhance the passenger experience, the expansion works will add additional aircraft stands as follows:

• Western Apron catering to International operations will be expanded by ~57,500 sqm and can accommodate additional 17 contact stands (Code C) + 1 remote stand (Code C)
• Eastern Apron catering to Domestic Operations will be expanded by ~25,500 sqm and can accommodate additional 17 contact stands (Code C) + 4 remote stands (Code C)
• New Remote apron on the far eastern side ~126,200 sqm that can accommodate additional 42 remote stands (Code C) has already been put into Operations

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 (GSE) vehicles and Aircrafts. 

4 new Rapid Exit Taxiways have been added to enhance runway capacity and improve operational efficiency. These RETs 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 been built for effective operation during secondary runway utilization.

Recognizing the commitment towards sustainability, latest energy conservation technologies have been implemented in the airfield with Rapid Exit Taxiways, Parallel Taxiway and Connecting Taxiways. Technology solutions like Category II Airfield Ground Lighting system with LEDs, Advanced Airfield Lighting Control, and monitoring system (ALCMS) and Individual Lamp Control and Monitoring Systems (ILCMS) have been implemented that ensures the quick turnaround of aircrafts with reduced “ON” duration of Aircraft engine. This mechanism reduces the carbon footprint making Hyderabad International Airport an environment-friendly airport.

To ensure safe water drainage, a 16 lakhs square meter paved area in the airside has been built which helps with a huge run-off of stormwater during monsoon. The stormwater drainage system is designed in such a way that, all the stormwater from the airfield is collected and stored in a reservoir of capacity 450 MLD. This water is treated and reused for domestic and irrigation purposes. This initiative has helped in conserving water and reduced the dependency on the water supply from Metropolitan Water Board.

When the airport opened in 2008, it ushered in several first-of-its-kind technological innovations for the airport sector in the country, including the first-ever integrated and centralized Airport Operations Control Center (AOCC) and an array of modern passenger information and display systems. Over the years, GMR led Hyderabad International Airport has been a pioneer in exploring new technology-driven ways to transform the airport services into a safe and secured contact-less travel experience for passengers. Airport has been at the forefront of deploying technology-enabled solutions to deliver robust security, enhanced passenger experience & efficient operations at the airport.
 
Hyderabad International Airport is the only airport in the country with a paperless e- boarding facility for all domestic and international travellers. The innovative end to end contactless e-boarding process is safe and seamless. The e-boarding solution fully eliminates the need for manual stamping of boarding cards. Further, it covers end to end all the key passenger processes at the airport. In its latest development, GHIAL is making use of AI-enabled advanced Queue Management Solutions at various touchpoints of the airport. This innovative Queue Management System combines IoT security cameras and AI Video Analytics that monitors various key parameters such as peak passenger waiting time and helps in monitoring social distance. The advanced video analytics platform analyses the video feed from various cameras to accurately estimate passenger statistics over time.