The grandiose announcement made by the Telangana government to explore the possibility of having a second commercial airport at Air Force Station, Hakimpet, in hybrid mode may not be that easy going by the issues connected with using defence airports for civilian aircraft operations.
The State Cabinet meeting held on Monday approved the proposal to have second commercial airport at Hakimpet. At present, all commercial, international, and domestic operations are carried out from the Rajiv Gandhi International Airport (RGIA) at Shamshabad under the GMR Hyderabad International Airport Limited (HIAL). The Begumpet Airport in the heart of the city ceased commercial operations consequent to the inauguration of the RGIA.
According to the Municipal Administration and Information Technology Minister K. T. Rama Rao plans are afoot to use Hakimpet as a hybrid airport to ease the congestion at RGIA which sees a footfall of 2.50 crore passengers annually. “We will write to the Centre to consider the proposal,” he said.
But, a whole lot of issues surround the Cabinet decision to seek the Centre’s permission to utilise the facilities at the Hakimpet airbase for civil passenger flights. Hakimpet is among the premier flying training establishments of the IAF. It is the base providing intermediate training to fly jet aircraft fighters and helicopters.
Explained | The troubles of India’s aviation industry
Set up during the Second World War, the airbase at Hakimpet operates round the year for giving training to meet commitments both by day and most part of the year by night. It also has a Helicopter Training Institute from where one batch of helicopter pilots pass out every six months.
Wing Commander T.J. Reddy, who retired as the Chief Administrative Officer from Air Force Station, Hakimpet, says the moot point is if there is any scope for any meaningful operation of civil passenger flights, necessarily domestic. “The availability of land for development of hangars, passenger terminal, convenient entry/exit for civil passenger movement, the slope of the runway in one of the landing directions, and more importantly flight aspects with fighter training flights operating et all seem to be inhibiting factors to take the proposal forward,” he noted.
Telangana State Planning Board Vice-Chairman B. Vinod Kumar told The Hindu that there are over two dozen defence airports in the country that have civil enclaves to operate commercial flights. “Moreover, AF Hakimpet has 2000 acres of land and expansion of the airbase is possible. We will surely take up the matter with the Ministry of Defence shortly,” he said.
Top sources said if the Centre accords permission to have the hybrid airport Hakimpet, the State government might entrust the commercial operations to GMR Airport authority, which also manages civil flights from Air Force Station, Bidar, in neighbouring Karnataka.
The Telangana government has been making a determined bid for establishment of six greenfield airports in the State apart from the one at Hyderabad. The government had identified Basantnagar in Peddapalli district, Mamnoor in Warangal (Urban), Adilabad town, Jakranpally in Nizamabad, Devarkadra in Mahbubnagar and Bhadradri-Kothagudem district for setting up small airports.
The Airports Authority of India had already taken up the Obstacle Limitation Surface Survey, soil testing and other investigations at the sites. Some draft reports were already received but the final reports were yet to be given. In 2014, the TRS Government had urged the Centre to sanction five more airports — at Adilabad, Warangal, Kothagudem, Nizamabad and Shamirpet — as there was only one at Hyderabad at present. Adilabad and Warangal had old airstrips.
