Unveiling of renovated terminal of Ahmedabad airport on Sunday

The newly-renovated terminal building of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport at Ahmedabad will be inaugurated on Sunday, officials said on Saturday.

The newly-renovated terminal building of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport at Ahmedabad will be inaugurated on Sunday, officials said on Saturday.

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The new building, which is having an area of 39,331 square metres, can handle about 1,600 passengers during the peak hours and around 2.85 million annually, the Civil Aviation Ministry said.

Completed at a cost of Rs 316 crore, it will have 32 check-in counters, two information booths, five conveyor belts for arrival, four escalators, seven elevators, two passenger boarding bridge and parking facility for 500 cars.

Apart from this, it will have an underground corridor connecting the domestic and international terminals for easing movement of passengers through walkalators. The airport will now have 51,975 square metres of apron area, constructed at a cost of Rs 14 crore, where about nine Airbus A-321 and four ATR-72 aircraft could be parked.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will lay the foundation stone for Tirupathi International Airport on July 10 to be developed by the Airport Authority of India. The AAI has planned to develop the airport in two phases with the airport operator planning to invest Rs 174.08 crore during the first phase.

In the second phase, when the state government hands over land at an estimated cost of Rs 109.55 crore, the AAI will extend the existing runway to 3,270 metres for facilitating operation of Boeing-747-400.

Also, the aircraft parking area of the size of 330 meters by 145 metres would be constructed for parking of one Boeing 747-400 aircraft, two Boeing 767-400 and three Airbus 320 type aircrafts. Government has approved grant of Rs 50 crore for 2010-11 and the second phase will be taken up only after the state government acquires the land for the airport, officials said