Begumpet airport to buzz again?

Hyderabad: Is Begumpet airport stirring back to life? Well, if sources are to be believed then the Airports Authority of India (AAI) is busy in discussions with officials at the centre to start commercial charter flight operations from the defunct facility. The proposal has also been mooted for the old Bangalore airport.
Currently, Begumpet airport is used only for VIP movement and other private charters of jet-setting industrialists. The airport has otherwise virtually shut shop ever since all commercial operations were shifted to Rajiv Gandhi International Airport at Shamshabad in March 2008. If the commercial charter flights proposal does see the light of the day, it would mean that people travelling to a common destination can hire a private aircraft.
However, aviation experts note this can be a cost-intensive exercise with each traveller’s to and fro journey in the Hyderabad-Delhi sector costing an estimated Rs one lakh. While the flights can come in handy for business honchos, aviation experts note that it will not click with an average traveller. Moreover, the aircraft has to be brought in from another city, be it Bangalore, Mumbai, Delhi, Chennai or Kolkata, which would add heavily to the cost of hiring the private charter flight. Currently with only a handful hiring charter flights, no company has started operations in Hyderabad.
03/07/10 Times of India

To Read the News in full at Source, Click the Headline

Categories: Airports Jul 2010