New terminal at Ahmedabad airport to be inaugurated on Sunday

A view of the new terminal at the Ahmedabad airport that will be inaugurated on July 4, 2010.

A day after the new terminal at the Delhi airport was opened today, the new terminal at the Ahmedabad airport will be inaugurated tomorrow.

On July 10, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will lay the foundation stone for the Tirupati International Airport in Andhra Pradesh.

The new terminal at Ahmedabad has an area of 39,331 sq m and can handle 1600 passengers at peak hour. It has facilities such as an in-line baggage handling system and an underground corridor to connect the international and domestic terminals.

The terminal can handle 2.85 million passengers annually and has 32 check-in counters and two aero bridges. The terminal was built at a cost of Rs 316 crore.

The new 51,975 sq m apron area can cater for the parking of 9 A-321 and 4 ATR-72 type of aircraft.

At Tirupati, the existing facilities available include a 7500 feet long runway, a terminal building and an apron for parking of three A-321 aircraft at a time.

Artist's impression of the new terminal of the Tirupati International Airport.

The Airports Authority of India (AAI) plans to develop it as an international airport in phases. In Phase I, estimated to cost Rs 174.08 crore, a new integrated terminal building with capacity for handling 700 peak hour passengers, a new apron with one link taxiway for parking of one Boeing 747-400, one Airbus 300-600 and one Airbus 320 type of aircraft will be constructed.

An official press release said Phase II would be taken up once the State Government handed over the remaining land. Plans include extension and strengthening of the runway to make it 3270 meter (10700 feet) long to make it suitable for operation for aircraft such as B 767-400. The cost of all these is estimated at Rs 109.55 crore.

The Government has approved a grant of Rs 50 crore for 2010-11 for the project.

NNN