Departure
93%
vs 95% ▼ 2
MY FS FLIGHTS
MY FS FLIGHTS
Rajiv Gandhi International Airport (VOHS) serves Hyderabad from Shamshabad, some 24 kilometres south of the city centre in the Indian state of Telangana. It is a major greenfield international airport with two long parallel runways and full ILS coverage, making it a straightforward and well-equipped destination for VFR or IFR flights in the simulator.
Rajiv Gandhi International Airport is a large international airport at Shamshabad, south of Hyderabad, opened in 2008 to replace the city's former airport at Begumpet. It is owned and operated by GMR Hyderabad International Airport Limited, a public-private consortium, and today ranks as the fourth-busiest airport in India by passenger traffic. For a simulator pilot it offers a good study in modern Indian commercial airport operations, with two very long parallel runways, an integrated terminal complex, and a mix of domestic and international airline traffic.
The airport lies in Shamshabad, roughly 24 kilometres south of Hyderabad, in the state of Telangana. It sits near National Highway 44 and National Highway 765, which were among the reasons the site was chosen for the airport during planning in the late 1990s. As a major international gateway it is a hub for Alliance Air, Amazon Air, Blue Dart Aviation, IndiGo, SpiceJet and Star Air, and an operating base for Air India Express, so pilots should expect a busy controlled traffic environment typical of a large Indian international airport.
The airport has two physical parallel runways aligned 09/27. The northern runway, 09L/27R, is 13,325 feet long on runway 09L and 13,934 feet on runway 27L, both hard-surfaced, lit and equipped with ILS. The southern runway, 09R/27R, is 13,933 feet long on runway 09R with ILS, and 13,162 feet long on runway 27R; both directions are hard-surfaced and lit. All four runway ends are lit, and ILS approaches are available for three of the four directions.
Radio services include approach control on 120.25 MHz and 125.55 MHz, an ATIS broadcast on 126.47 MHz, tower on 118.45 MHz, ground and delivery both on 121.62 MHz, and SMC on 121.85 MHz. Three additional control frequencies are published at 120.95 MHz, 128.35 MHz and 129.7 MHz. ILS approaches are available for the field, supporting instrument arrivals in addition to VFR operations.
Planning for a new airport to serve Hyderabad began in the early 1990s, as the existing Begumpet Airport could not handle rising passenger traffic. After considering converting Hakimpet Air Force Station and several other sites, Shamshabad was selected in December 1998 for its convenient location near two highways and a railway line. In November 2000 the state government and the Airports Authority of India agreed to develop the airport as a public-private partnership, with a consortium led by GMR Group and Malaysia Airports Holdings Berhad taking a 74 percent stake. Hyderabad International Airport Limited, later renamed GMR Hyderabad International Airport Limited, was formed in December 2002 to hold the project. Construction began in March 2005, with Sonia Gandhi laying the foundation stone; the airport had been named after former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi, who had trained as a pilot in Hyderabad, two days earlier. The airport opened to commercial traffic on 23 March 2008, replacing Begumpet Airport under the terms of the concession agreement, which barred any competing airport within 150 kilometres. It was India's first greenfield airport built under the public-private partnership model and is the largest airport in India by area, covering some 5,500 acres. A second parallel runway was inaugurated in February 2012, making it the first international airport in south India with parallel runways.
The airport today handles a high volume of domestic and international airline traffic, having carried over 29 million passengers and more than 167,000 tonnes of cargo in the twelve months to March 2025. Facilities include an integrated passenger terminal, a separate cargo terminal, aviation training facilities, a fuel farm, a solar power plant and two maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) facilities. The airport was the first in India to introduce domestic e-boarding in December 2015 and international e-boarding in October 2020. As a major controlled international airport, prior permission is required for general aviation and simulator pilots planning a visit.