Transfer time at new Hyderabad airport
GHIAL authorities are also battling with the issue of collecting the Rs 1,000 user service charge from international passengers.
By Cuckoo Paul, TNN |
HYDERABAD: When Rajgopal Swami went shopping for 2,500 suitcases of assorted shapes and sizes last year, a lot of people in the market wondered what he was going to do with them. One year down the line, all bags have been checked in and out of the new Shamshabad airport several times, even though the airport is not yet open for business.
Guns have been concealed in them, banned items have been carried in them, they���ve been through hundreds of screenings in the belly of the airport, without ever leaving the premises. The bags are part of the props for the airport���s Operations and Readiness and Trial (ORAT) runs that the airport operator hopes will help prepare it for crunch time when it shifts from Sunday midnight.
Part of the challenge for Mr Swami, who is CFO of GHIAL (GMR Hyderabad International Airport), is the logistical nightmare that the shifting of an airport involves.
���Cut over���, the word in aviation parlance for the shifting of airports, involves the movement of a huge amount of airport equipment that includes belongings of the airport authority and baggage handlers, cargo equipment, line maintenance spares and tools belonging to airlines and a lot of other stuff that belongs to catering companies and other service providers.
Guns have been concealed in them, banned items have been carried in them, they���ve been through hundreds of screenings in the belly of the airport, without ever leaving the premises. The bags are part of the props for the airport���s Operations and Readiness and Trial (ORAT) runs that the airport operator hopes will help prepare it for crunch time when it shifts from Sunday midnight.
Part of the challenge for Mr Swami, who is CFO of GHIAL (GMR Hyderabad International Airport), is the logistical nightmare that the shifting of an airport involves.
���Cut over���, the word in aviation parlance for the shifting of airports, involves the movement of a huge amount of airport equipment that includes belongings of the airport authority and baggage handlers, cargo equipment, line maintenance spares and tools belonging to airlines and a lot of other stuff that belongs to catering companies and other service providers.
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Over the past 18 months, a team from Munich Airport International (MAI) has been preparing GHIAL for the cut over. MAI has been the ORAT consultant for several other new airport projects around the world like Suvarnabhumi in Bangkok and KL International airport of Malaysia. The company is working on similar readiness programmes at London���s new terminal 5 and new terminals at Changi and Abu Dhabi.
Speaking to ET, ORAT project consultant Ivonne Kuger says the challenge is to be able to make the transition seamlessly. The planning includes moving of the aircraft from the old airport land at Begumpet before midnight, but will have to take off from the new airport the next day.
There are about 10 such flights, says Ms Kuger. The aircraft, largely Kingfisher and Air Deccan operations, will fly empty from Begumpet to Shamshabad, and will then take off with passengers from the new airport the next day, she said.
Incidentally, low-cost airlines like SpiceJet and JetLite have cancelled and rescheduled their flights to avoid the expense of flying empty between the two airports. A 20-minute empty ferry flight between the two airports costs around $5,000. Airlines have chosen to operate directly to the new airport on Sunday, airline sources said.
���The actual transfer of equipment like buses, step ladders and push-back tractors, has not been a major hassle because a lot of new equipment have been purchased,��� says Ms Kuger.
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Most of the movement has been of goods like containers, pallets, forklifts for cargo operations and meal carts and bonded goods, which belong to caterers, she said. About 300 truckloads of goods have been moved from the old to the new airport. The scale was much larger at Bangkok���s Suvarnabhumi airport where about 80 airlines operated, compared to the 21 that use Begumpet airport. About 350,000 truckloads of equipment was transported there in a major logistical exercise, that became necessary also because the ground handling company was the same at both airports, she said.Meanwhile, GHIAL authorities are also battling with the issue of collecting the Rs 1,000 user service charge from international passengers. The issue is being opposed by a cross section of air passengers, but has been cleared by the government last week. The fee will be collected on all tickets sold for international travel out of the new airport.
But what happens to those who have purchased the tickets anytime in the past six months and were not charged the fee? A spokesman said they will have to pay the fee at the airport before checking in for their flight. The move is likely to raise a few more hackles, airline sources said. However, the start up of the airport that was beginning to look like an obstacle race in the past few weeks, now seems on course.
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