Rajiv Gandhi International Airport

Client: GMR Hyderabad International Airport Limited (GHIAL)

Rajiv Gandhi International Airport (RGIA) is the sixth busiest airport in India and one of the main business centres in India.

Domestic passenger traffic at RGIA tracked double digit growth in 2014 and 2015 with footfall exceeding the existing capacity of 12.5 million passengers annually and putting severe strain on terminal and landside infrastructure. Spread over an area of 5,495 acres, the airport is divided into a north and south zone separated by a central road.

L&B led the Master Plan review to unlock latent capacity in the south zone by balancing capacities between the airside, terminal and landside facilities to cater to the ultimate capacity of the existing Code F runway with a view to maximizing operational efficiency and throughput.

The previous Master Plan had pegged the capacity of the entire airport at 40 MAP, of which 20 MAP was to be accommodated in the south zone. By using sophisticated capacity tools, L&B increased the ultimate capacity of the single Code F runway from 30 aircraft movements per hour today to around 50 aircraft movements per hour, corresponding to an annual demand level of 40 MAP in the south zone – effectively doubling the passenger capacity from previous estimates.

Solutions for taxiway and other airfield improvements to support the doubling of the runway capacity were also provided.

For the terminal and landside, bottlenecks were identified and recommendations provided to alleviate congestion in the near-term before expansion. The development plan for the terminal and landside were linked to activity based milestones – 26 MAP and 40 MAP – focusing on specific volumes of activity that trigger the expansion requirement, rather than the timing, offering the airport flexibility to evaluate actual demand level and the flexibility to respond effectively.

L&B developed a range of expansion concepts through a detailed multi criteria evaluation. The preferred development plan enhanced the capacity to accommodate up to 40 MAP in the south zone, potentially pegging the capacity of the entire airport at 70-80 MAP.