A decade ago, when plans to construct a new airport were published, there was more than intense speculation on the prospects of growth in out city. In fact, it kicked off major projects that were supplemented by the software boom. As real estate businesses picked up, property editions of newspapers, hoarding and TV ads all ruled the speculation of fierce growth in investment returns in several localities of mana Hyderabad.
Little did common men investors consider the chance of their future taking a nose dive, given the promises that the media publicized that the city was poised to experience.
The dull event of the Hyderabad Aviation Week 2014 confirms this view. Usually, air shows are the events where everyone - be it aircraft manufacturers or airlines want to show off their might. They announce their aggressive expansion strategies, new alliances are forged, and the value of deals entered into are, to be frank, nerve chilling. Take for instance the recent Dubai airshow, Boeing announced orders worth over $ 100 bn.
On the flip side, going by the statistics, air traffic in terms of passengers has taken a downturn as well. Airlines that connected Hyderabad (from the erstwhile Begumpet Airport) to Amsterdam (KLM Royal Dutch Airlines) and Frankfurt (Lufthansa) have already withdrawn their services ever since the operations shifted to the new airport in Shamshabad - it is pertinent to note that things went quite contrary to what airport was meant to cater (long haul international traffic). So only two direct long haul flights now exist out of HYD these days, British Airways that flies to London, and Cathay Pacific that started in 2012 to Hong Kong. And again, its not like there is lack of demand - matter of fact, despite the downturn in passenger traffic, the proportion of international fliers out of HYD has been steadily growing, with gulf routes being highly beneficial for the passenger and airlines. (they are able to deliver better hub and spoke connections to all airports in the world at our cost). HYD provides more sort of feeder traffic for Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Singapore, Bangkok, Kuala Lumpur, Hong Kong etc..
I mean the new airport is too fancy to maintain and cater for the airlines, and like that would not suffice, the airport operator takes the leverage of doubling the charges every couple of years. While I cannot comment on the cost outlays and maintenance expenditure, what keeps me wondering is the label that was given to the Airport - "Greenfield Airport".
Airports do create nuisance for residence, and yes they consume heavy amounts of land and infrastructure. Hence, it is quite a sane idea to push it out of the city but providing reasonable transport means is also a necessary provision to be made. Its a pain to travel to the airport :(
Flying to Vijayawada take the same time as going in a Multi axle bus or car.
It is quite common sense that gets us to realize that the prospects of growth in terms of air connectivity is dying a slow death - with revival mechanisms unknown, unquestioned and mainly out of us people's hands. The nightmare would be a day when you search for the article 'Hyderabad Airport' in Wikipedia and you get the tag "Defunct Airport - Commercial Aircraft operations ceased in the year 20XX " :/
