Begumpet Airport in

Hyderabad Hyderabad ( ; , ) is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Telangana and the ''de jure'' capital of Andhra Pradesh. It occupies on the Deccan Plateau along the banks of the Musi River (India), Musi River, in the northern part ...

, also known as Hyderabad Old Airport, is a

civil enclave A joint-use airport is an aerodrome that is used for both military aviation and civil aviation. They typically contain facilities of both a civil airport and a military air base. By country United States The United States has several joint-us ...

located in

Begumpet Begumpet ("Begum's Place") is a part of Secunderabad, Hyderabad, Telangana, India. Begumpet is named after the daughter of the sixth Nizam (Mahbub Ali Khan, Asaf Jah VI), Basheer Unnisa Begum, who received it as part of her wedding dowry when ...

. The airport is home to the Rajiv Gandhi Aviation Academy (RGAA), the Telangana State Aviation Academy and the Begumpet Air Force Station of the

Indian Air Force The Indian Air Force (IAF) is the air arm of the Indian Armed Forces. Its complement of personnel and aircraft assets ranks third amongst the air forces of the world. Its primary mission is to secure Indian airspace and to conduct aerial w ...

. Begumpet Airport used to be the only international airport of Hyderabad, until the opening of

Rajiv Gandhi International Airport Rajiv Gandhi International Airport (RGIA) is an international airport that serves Hyderabad, the capital of the Indian state of Telangana. It is located in Shamshabad, about south of Hyderabad and it was opened on 23 March 2008 to replace B ...

on 23 March 2008. After the opening of the new airport, Begumpet Airport ceased all commercial operations. The last and final flight to take off was a

Singapore Airlines Singapore Airlines (abbreviation: SIA) is the flag carrier airline of the Republic of Singapore with its Airline hub, hub located at Singapore Changi Airport. The airline is notable for highlighting the Singapore Girl as its central figure in ...

flight at 23:40 on 22 March 2008.

History

Tata Sons' Airline Timetable Image, Summer 1935 (interior)

Begumpet Airport was established in 1930 by

Mir Osman Ali Khan Mir Osman Ali Khan, Asaf Jah VII (5 or 6 April 1886 — 24 February 1967), was the last Nizam (ruler) of the Princely State of Hyderabad, the largest princely state in British India. He ascended the throne on 29 August 1911, at the age of ...

, the last

Nizam The Nizams were the rulers of Hyderabad from the 18th through the 20th century. Nizam of Hyderabad (Niẓām ul-Mulk, also known as Asaf Jah) was the title of the monarch of the Hyderabad State ( divided between the state of Telangana, Mar ...

, and

Berar Berar may refer to: *Vidarbha, the eastern region of Maharashtra Province, India, historically known as Berar *Berar Sultanate (1490–1596), one of the Deccan sultanates *Berar Subah (1596–1724), a Subah of the Mughal Empire *Berar Province (1724 ...

with the formation of

Hyderabad Aero Club Hyderabad State Aero Club was an airport club in the Hyderabad State, India. It became the airfield for the VII Nizam of Hyderabad, Mir Osman Ali Khan Mir Osman Ali Khan, Asaf Jah VII (5 or 6 April 1886 — 24 February 1967), was the last ...

. Initially, it was used by the Nizam of the

Hyderabad state Hyderabad State () was a princely state located in the south-central Deccan region of India with its capital at the city of Hyderabad. It is now divided into the present-day state of Telangana, the Kalyana-Karnataka region of Karnataka, and t ...

as a domestic and international airport for the Nizam's Deccan Airways, one of the premier and the earliest airline in British India. The terminal building was created in 1937. A new terminal building came up on the south side in 1972 and later became the main airport. The older terminal hitherto was referred to as "Old Airport" at Begumpet. The new terminal building consisted of two check-in terminals; Rajiv Gandhi International and NTR National with a common arrival module. A nonstop flight between Hyderabad and Europe commenced in February 2005 when a

Lufthansa Deutsche Lufthansa AG (), commonly shortened to Lufthansa, is the flag carrier of Germany. When combined with its subsidiaries, it is the second- largest airline in Europe in terms of passengers carried. Lufthansa is one of the five founding m ...

plane arrived from

Frankfurt Frankfurt, officially Frankfurt am Main (; Hessian: , "Frank ford on the Main"), is the most populous city in the German state of Hesse. Its 791,000 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located on its na ...

, Germany. At the time of its closure, Begumpet was the 6th busiest airport in India. It had 13 parking bays in operation around the terminal block and five "night parking bays" on the northern side next to the old block, sufficient to handle the

A320 The Airbus A320 family is a series of narrow-body airliners developed and produced by Airbus. The A320 was launched in March 1984, first flew on 22 February 1987, and was introduced in April 1988 by Air France. The first member of the famil ...

and

Boeing 737 The Boeing 737 is a narrow-body aircraft produced by Boeing at its Renton Factory in Washington. Developed to supplement the Boeing 727 on short and thin routes, the twinjet retains the 707 fuselage width and six abreast seating with two un ...

. The airport had limited night landing facilities and only 30% of Andhra Pradesh's international traffic flowed through the airport due to the lack of direct flights. Begumpet Airport's capacity had reportedly been exceeded in both domestic and international areas due to the rate of growth in passenger traffic, estimated at 45% p.a., the highest among Indian airports. The airport handled 20 000 passengers daily with about 300 aircraft movements of 16 international and 10 domestic airlines. US President

Bill Clinton William Jefferson Clinton ( né Blythe III; born August 19, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 42nd president of the United States from 1993 to 2001. He previously served as governor of Arkansas from 1979 to 1981 and agai ...

Air Force One Air Force One is the official air traffic control designated call sign for a United States Air Force aircraft carrying the president of the United States. In common parlance, the term is used to denote U.S. Air Force aircraft modified and used ...

landed and took off from Begumpet during his visit to Hyderabad in early 2000.

Civil aviation airshow

Begumpet Airport hosts ''India Aviation'', India's first civilian air show. This biennial event, organised by the Ministry of Civil Aviation in collaboration with FICCI, was first held 15–18 October 2008. The second edition, ''India Aviation 2010'', was organised from 37 March 2010. The partner country in the second edition was France, and the focus country for the event was the USA. The event was bigger in magnitude to its predecessor. More than 200 exhibitors participated and the exhibition covered a gross area of . 40 aircraft participated, including the

Antonov An-148 The Antonov An-148 ( ua, Антонов Ан-148) is a regional jet designed and built by Antonov of Ukraine. Development of the aircraft was started in the 1990s, and its maiden flight took place on 17 December 2004. The aircraft completed its ...

which was on display for first time in India. More than 500 conference delegates and more than 5000 Business visitors attended the event. Parallel events of International Conference on Civil Aviation and CEOs Forum were also organized. The third edition, ''India Aviation 2012'', was organised in Hyderabad from 1418 March 2012.

General aviation and training

After the closure of Begumpet Airport for commercial flights, it is being used for aviation and flight training purposes by Telangana Aviation Academy, Asia Pacific Flight Training Academy Ltd., and Rajiv Gandhi Aviation Academy. Training flights fly only to the south of the airport because of the northern part of the airport being a prohibited airspace for commercial flights.

Accidents and incidents

On 12 January 1978, an adult male pedestrian was struck and killed by the Boeing 737-2A8 Adv, (registration VT-EFL) operating the flight as it touched down on the runway at Begumpet Airport. Indian Airlines Flight 117 was a scheduled domestic flight from Bombay (now

Mumbai Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' financial centre of India. According to the United Nations, as of 2018, Mumbai is the second- ...

) to

, India. It was the 504th Boeing 737 built. The aircraft was powered by two Pratt & Whitney JT8D-17A turbofan engines. When the aircraft touched down, the flight crew saw a man running across the runway. The aircraft struck the man at high speed and he died while being transported to a hospital. The investigation determined that the man had breached security at Begumpet Airport. VT-EFL did not sustain any damage in the accident and it returned to service with Indian Airlines. *In November 1993, an Indian Airlines plane crash landed at the airport. There were no deaths and the plane had to be written off.

References

External links

Hyderabad Airport
at

Airports Authority of India The Airports Authority of India, or AAI, is a public sector enterprise under the ownership of the Ministry of Civil Aviation, Government of India. It is responsible for creating, upgrading, maintaining, and managing civil aviation infrastruct ...