Tuesday, February 26, 2008

Why GA doesn't report about Undavalli and YSR comments on Ambedkar controversy?

If the same comments are made by any TDP politicians, this would have been the main headlines in GA? Who is GA trying to cover up?

Saturday, February 16, 2008

NEWS - Hyderabad`s gleaming new airport

A month before it opens, Anjuli Bhargava gets an exclusive tour through the country’s most modern air terminal.

Walk in 45 minutes before your flight’s departure, check in at any one of the 80 counters without X-raying your baggage, have a hot coffee at CafĂ© Coffee Day or a burger at McDonald’s, sail through one of the 16 security gates, thereafter tuck into a quick beer at the bar or buy a new toy (a new mobile phone or, perhaps, the latest iPod) to amuse yourself, to finally — and quickly — board the aircraft through one of 12 aerobridges.

On March 16, residents of Hyderabad will wake up to a new airport. The doors of the old and shabby Begumpet airport will close forever and India’s first modern, gleaming and hassle-free airport at Shamshabad (22 km from the city centre) will show what can be possible if someone puts their mind to it.

The Rs 2,500 crore Hyderabad International Airport Limited (HIAL) is the first greenfield public-private partnership project in India of this magnitude. Named Rajiv Gandhi International Airport, it is a consortium with GMR Infrastructure holding 63 per cent of the equity, Malaysian Airports, 11 per cent, Airports Authority of India, 13 per cent, and the Government of Andhra Pradesh, 13 per cent.

When it opens next month, it will have facilities and safety features not seen at any other airport in India. Above all, the airport — somewhat remarkably when one looks at the precedent set by projects like the Delhi-Gurgaon expressway — is ready in record time. On March 28, 2006, when this reporter visited the site, it was hard to believe the HIAL claim that there would be a world-class facility of any kind in place by March 2008.

Kiran Kumar Grandhi, head of airports in the GMR group and the younger son of group chairman G M Rao, says the deadline was a “challenge”, recalling moments when he feared it would be missed.“The airport has the distinction of the contract being signed, the foundation stone laid and, now, the [impending] inauguration all within one civil aviation minister’s tenure,” he exults, walking through what is currently an empty concourse. “In that sense, it is definitely unique,” agrees S N Subrahmanyan, vice president, L&T, one of HIAL’s consortium partners. Close to 8,000 workers worked 24x7 to build what closest resembles the Oslo airport in terms of design. The airport’s master-planners are a consortium comprising Cowi of Norway, Avai Plan of Denmark and Stup, Mumbai.

The terminal building has been designed by Hong Kong-based Winsdon Shu, who worked to provide the “wave”-shaped roof with 16 skylights punctured into the ceiling. These “leaf” skylights that allow natural light to bathe the interiors add a touch of “Indianness” to an otherwise glass, steel and cement monolith.

The airport is getting a “Leeds” certificate for leadership in energy and environmental design —rare for airports anywhere (Boston was the first in the US to get it) and certainly no other airport in India has it.

Modular in design (a second domestic pier and a second international pier will add to capacity Lego-like, later), this just over 1 million sq ft facility, built over 5,495 acres, will handle 12 million passengers a year (40 million in the final phase), while easing some of the chaos and hell of Indian airports.

If it sounds unbelievable, Grandhi says that aligning GMR’s way of working with that of government nominees on the board of HIAL was quite a task. Nonetheless, GMR chose every vendor and supplier on the basis of “chemistry” and “commitment” rather than “cost”.

That should become apparent in the operations at the new airport. No longer will passengers have to queue up to get their baggage X-rayed (luggage screening will be done post check-in). With 80 check-in counters, 18 of which are self check-in, the serpentine queues air travellers have become accustomed to will hopefully be history.

Separate hand-luggage check-in counters will bring down waiting periods (in many cities, 30 minutes to check-in even if you have just a handbag is now commonplace). For those coming into the city, 90-metre-long baggage carousels (current ones at airports are 45 meters) will handle not one but three flights at a time.

The first bag should hit the belt 15-18 minutes after touchdown (the aim is 12 minutes, but hard to achieve in the Indian scenario) and the last one within 35 minutes. Up to 3,500 cars can be parked at any point in the parking area with Tenaga Parking of Malaysia responsible for its smooth flow.

Free shuttles from the terminal will take you to a transportation centre from where passengers can ride to the city in an air-conditioned Volvo bus, pre-paid autos/taxis, or radio taxis.

An automated flight information display system replaces the white boards with handwritten messages. The Bose public announcement system may not improve accents but it will make what the announcers say better audible.

With 46 counters in all, immigration lines will be shorter. The integrated terminal will allow passengers to walk off a domestic flight to board an international one.

Lounges in the domestic and international departure terminals will make life easier. Hong Kong’s Plaza Premium has a paid lounge so even those booked on low-cost airlines or without access to Jet, Kingfisher or Indian Airlines lounges can shower, have breakfast, maybe even a drink upon payment.

“If your flight is delayed by, say, three hours, you can relax, take a shower, have a meal for a charge,” says Shankar Velluri, general manager for corporate communications, HIAL. Any cancellation and you can book yourself into Accor’s 308-room Novotel hotel on the premises.

Hanging around or walking through the several shops and duty-free outlets could prove expensive though. The duty-free has been arranged as a walk-through to encourage impulse purchases.

Besides McDonald’s, there will be outlets set up by HMSHost, a subsidiary of an Italian company, with — for a change — edible fare. Landmark and Odyssey will sell books and toys. There will be a bar in the international terminal with Hollywood and Bollywood themes and, on the domestic side, with a Tollywood (Telugu cinema) theme.

On the operational side, for the first time an Indian airport has an airport operations control centre (AOCC) closely resembling one’s notion of a spaceship with a video wall of computer screens.

A concept borrowed from Malaysia, Madrid and some other airports, it is the airport’s nerve-centre and will manage, operate and coordinate all the airport’s workings with 42 executives trained in Malaysia as its eyes and ears.

In case of any crisis, with over 400 CCTVs placed around the airport and computer linked information flowing from the ATC to the AOCC, any problem will be dealt with rapidly, whether it is managing gates, fire services or intrusions on the boundary wall.

“Medical emergencies, for instance, can be handled a lot quicker as AOCC can immediately alert the hospital once a pilot informs ATC that he has a patient on board,” says Ganasen Narainan, who is here from Malaysia to get the AOCC up and running, pointing to the 17-bed Apollo hospital on the premises.

Similarly, aircraft mishaps and fire threats can be handled much better with the new heavy duty fire-engines (how state-of-the-art they are can be assessed by their price tag: Rs 4 crore each versus the usual Rs 75 lakh).

The AOCC will enhance the ability of ATC to concentrate on minimising a crisis instead of focusing on easing its aftermath. “Many of the jobs normally handled by ATCs will now be handled by us,” says an AOCC capacity planner.

What’s better, even regular irritants — like delayed or cancelled flights and irate, almost hysterical passengers — can be viewed from the control room and airline authorities instantly alerted to the problem. “Non-working X-ray machines, trouble with baggage...we can handle all this much better,” explains Narainan.

Airlines too will get a better deal, with 42 aircraft parking stands. The 4.2 km runway will easily handle A380s. Delays should go down with 10 runway exit points, including four rapid exit taxiways.

AOCC capacity planners have been allocating parking stands, aerobridges and gates to aircraft ever since trials started a few months ago to test the flow of passengers and other facilities.

Since December, this has been on a larger scale and has involved integrating government authorities through key areas such as check-in, immigration, customs and security.

Meanwhile, officials manning immigration and customs facilities have been taken on short trips to Singapore, Kuala Lumpur and Hong Kong to show them how things work there. Luggage manufacturing company VIP has loaned the airport 2,000 bags of different shapes, sizes and colours to test the efficiency of the baggage belts.

But the proof of the pudding is in the eating. While everything appears busy but hunky dory a month before it is to open, the airport will have some huge issues to contend with — how to ferry passengers there and back from the city, for instance; or how to change the attitude of the ATC, customs and security personnel, who are all government employees steeped in a culture of controlling, not facilitating, passengers. Building the airport is just one milestone; running it will be the real test for HIAL


Courtesy - Business Standard