New Hyd'bad international airport gears up for summer schedule

Hyderabad: After announcing its decision not to implement user development fees for some time, GMR-Group promoted greenfield Rajiv Gandhi International Airport (RGIA) at Shamshabad is now being geared up to handle increased passenger traffic as summer schedules begin to get into operation around the country's airports.

For RGIA, the schedule entails an increase in the number of daily flights to 324 - 280 domestic and 44 international.

The airport received a certain amount of initial flak from passengers as they faced a number of start-up problems, including malfunctioning aero-bridges.

According to GHIAL officials, RGIA has handled 1.20 lakh passengers so far without a single flight cancellation. In contrast, they pointed out, over 300 flights have been cancelled after the first two days of the inauguration of Heathrow Airport's new terminal on March 27 due to glitches in baggage-handling.

As of Monday evening, RGIA has handled 825 flight arrivals and departures.