Old Hyderabad airport is still busy

The new airport completely depends on old one for landing facilities

NEW DELHI: Old is gold. And for the new Hyderabad airport it is turning out to be a real time situation. The old airport at Begumpet, though shut down for more than a month, is still providing vital facilities for the new airport at Shamshabad, which is about 30 km from the main city, since it started operations on March 23.

“The new airport is taking air traffic services from the old one because the radar facilities at the new airport are not yet functional,” said an air traffic controller.

The control tower at Begumpet is always abuzz with action. “The new airport completely depends on us for providing landing facilities and it is a great pressure on all of us to make sure that every aircraft lands in new airport without any hassle,” said the controller.

Each time an aircraft enters Hyderabad, its pilots first establishes contact with the old airport control tower for sequencing and then for further instructions for landing. It is not just the air traffic controller who are feeling the heat, the pilots too are finding it difficult to land in the new airport because of the steep angle of decent they have to take once they are cleared for landing. “In normal case, it is 3 degree in all the airport but here it is 3.3 degree which is meant for the airports having mountainous terrain. And this makes our job a little difficult while landing,” said a pilot who did not wish to be named.

But authorities at the new Hyderabad International Airport says, “We are  following the instructions issued by the Directorate General Civil Aviation and the old airport might continue to provide air traffic services for another two more months.”

k_yogesh@dnaindia.net