The Indian authorities granted final approval for the new airport at the end of last year. "Preparatory work on the new airport began in January this year and major construction began at the start of September, " said T.Srinagesh, the airport's chief operating officer at Routes. "We can ramp it up in different phases to 14 or 15 million passengers per year," he explains. The airport is also being built to accommodate the Airbus A380 ultra-large aircraft.

The new airport is a joint development. Private investors in the form of Indian industrial firm GMR Infrastructure and Malaysia's national airports operator hold the majority stake, with 13% stakes held by the State Government of Andhra Pradesh and the Indian Airports Authority respectively.

Development of the new airport comes amid strong developments in the Indian Aviation market. India has recently sealed a stream of liberalized bilateral aviation agreements, while airline interest in the sector is strong given the potential of the large untapped passenger market and strong economic growth.

Srinagesh says GDP is growing at more than 7% and the passenger traffic across the country by 25%. Traffic at the existing airport is growing at 28%. "We have a large catchment area of 75 million people and we want to convert that market potential into passengers by developing tourism and business," he says of Hyderabad's strategy. "The potential is there and the airlines are converting that potential and we want to partner with the airlines."