Praful Patel says no commercial operations at Begumpet Airport in future
Hyderabad, February 12, 2008It is afternoon. One of the first of the two commercial trail flights, an airplane from Kingfisher Airlines special touched down on the longest runway in Southeast Asia at the upcoming Rajiv Gandhi International Airport, at Shamshabad, unveiling a new icon of Hyderabad. A few hours later, the second flight Jet Airways landed. An elated Chief Minister, Dr.YS Rajasekhara Reddy who reached the airport termed as a ‘curtain raiser’, the trial run brought in its wake a boon for aviation companies. He congratulated the GMR Group, executing the airport, announced that the sales tax on aviation turbine fuel would reduced from the present 33 percent to four percent.
The Union Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel and the Chief Minister watched from the apron. The Union Minister described as ‘India’s first truly world class airport’ will begin on March 16 when full scale operations begin, two days after the UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi inaugurates its formally. The Rs.2,478 crore airport has been developed by the GMR Group in a public-private partnership mode in which it holds 63 percent equity. Malaysia Airports Holdings Berhard 11 percent, the Andhra Pradesh, and the Airport Authority of India 11 percent each. The airport has 1.05-lakh sq.metre glass-encased terminal with a capacity to handle 12 million passengers daily.
The Union Minister announced that the airport economic regulatory authority likely to be established by mid 2008 would look into all the issues left over. He cleared the air about the future of Begampet airport by announcing that there would be no commercial operations. He lauded the State Government for its ‘bold ad progressive decision’ in facilitating the international airport, the Union Minister appreciated the move to promote airports in all districts.
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