Centre’s major push to civil aviation in Telangana

Hyderabad: What has the Centre done for the development of the civil aviation sector in Telangana? According to Union Minister for Culture and Tourism G Kishan Reddy, the sector has been witnessing overall progress in terms of adding new airports and the number of flights.

In 2013-14 there were only 74 airports and 400 aircraft. In the last nine years the number of airports has gone up to 148 and the number of aircraft to 750. Telangana did figure in this development journey of the civil aviation sector.

The Centre is supporting the expansion of GMR Hyderabad Airport (GHIAL) through the Airport Authority of India (AAI). The silent features of it include the airport’s 12 to 34 MPPA expanded capacity in million passengers per annum; the expansion of the area of the terminal in square metres from 121,281 to 379,370 sq.m.

That apart, the Centre’s ‘Udein Desh Ke Aam Nagrik’ (UDAN) makes air travel accessible to all. As part of this 10 per cent of 450 routes were allocated to Hyderabad. Making the UDAN – Hyderabad Connectivity Flights, now touching Kadapa, Nanded Puducherry, Vidyanagar, Hubli, Kolhapur, Nasik, Jharsuguda, Kishngarh (KQH), Belgaum, Mysore, Jagdalpur, Jamnagar and Gondia.,

“Sixty-six routes have been awarded to Telangana by AAI under bidding rounds; 42 routes operationalised until now; Rs 200 crore spent as Viability Gap Funding (VGF).”

In addition, UDAN flights will ply from Nagarjunasagar to Hyderabad and Vijayawada as the Centre has sanctioned a water aerodrome at Nagarjunasagar costing Rs.20 crore.

One of the prestigious centres in the civil aviation sector is the establishment of the Civil Aviation Research Organisation (CARO) in Hyderabad, which will make it a global leader in aviation technologies.

The R&D building with a ground floor plus three storey structure, and a basement with a built-up area of 24,175 sq.m is coming under the project at an estimated cost of Rs 353 crore. So far Rs.210 crore has been released. The works are in full swing.

The upcoming CARO will make Hyderabad a global leader in civil aviation research by developing in-house capabilities in the field of airport/air navigation servies; laboratory capabilities will support future research and development initiatives.

The new facility will focus on research and development for air navigation (ANS), air traffic management communication stimulators, network emulator, visualisation and analysis labs, surveillance labs navigation systems, emulation and stimulation labs, cyber security and threat analysis labs, data management centre, project support center, software solutions and tool centre and network infrastructure centre.