Minister makes plea for direct flight between Hyderabad and US

HYDERABAD: Roads and buildings minister Komatireddy Venkat Reddy made a plea for introducing a direct flight between Hyderabad and the US in view of the large number of people from the Telugu states travelling there.

Speaking at the inaugural session of aviation industry event Wings India 2024 here on Thursday, he requested civil aviation minister Jyotiraditya Scindia to consider the direct flight as it would help people from Telangana state as well as Andhra Pradesh.

He said the government was aggressively working on three greenfield airports at Bhadradri Kothagudem, Jakaranpally in Nizamabad and Gudibanda in Mahbubnagar and revival of three brownfield airports at Mamnoor in Warangal, Basanthnagar in Peddapally and one in Adilabad. “We have initiated the work on Warangal (Mamnoor) and Adilabad airports,” the minister said.

The state government has proposed a water aerodrome in the Nagarjunasagar reservoir and the Airports Authority of India had completed a pre-feasibility report. The government was also evaluating other waterbodies for creating water aerodromes, the minister said.

The government was the first to create permanent helipads in all district headquarters. In heli tourism, the Telangana State Aviation Corporation and tourism department were conducting joy rides at Hyderabad and Vemulawada and was ready to extend a similar facility at the Medaram Jatara, Asia’s biggest tribal festival.

He said Telangana was the fastest growing state in India and stood among the top in World Bank's ease of doing business rankings. Hyderabad has been consistently ranked the 'most liveable city in India' by Mercer.

During the previous editions of Wings India in 2018 and 2020, 2022, Telangana had won the best state award with the most progressive outlook in the aviation sector. Telangana was among the first states to slash value added tax on aviation fuel from 16 to one per cent, he said.

The Rajiv Gandhi International Airport at Shamshabad was consistently awarded the best in its class. Recent expansion of the airport has increased the passenger capacity to 40 million per year, he said.

Hyderabad was the most sought after city for medical facilities and almost 50 per cent of air ambulance services operate to Hyderabad. Telangana in partnership with World Economic Forum had launched the ‘Medicine From Sky’ project wherein drones were used for medicine and organ delivery.

The Telangana State Aviation Academy had imparted training to 135 commercial pilots, aircraft maintenance engineers. It has trained 430 drone pilots and most of them are employed.

Telangana was the first state to come up with its own drone policy to develop an ecosystem for the drone/ UAV industry. The state government was actively working with start-ups and industry partners to pilot drone usage in healthcare, agriculture, mining, and law enforcement, Venkat Reddy said.

Aerospace, defence and space industries were the thrust sectors for Telangana state. The industries department and TSIIC had developed aerospace parks to host manufacturing, servicing, engineering, training and allied firms. The TS iPASS industrial policy was hailed as the most industry friendly and offered customised tailor-made policies for mega projects and unmatched facilitation for industrial and allied investments, the minister added.

He said that Telangana was home to leading original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) such as Lockheed Martin, Boeing, GE Aviation, Airbus, Safran Elbit which had established their manufacturing base in Telangana. Safran had announced that their largest LEAP engine MRO globally, with an investment of `1,500 crore will be coming up in Hyderabad. This is the first engine original equipment manufacturer MRO investment in the country and also the largest MRO related investment announced so far.

Leading local MSMEs are part of Tier 1 / Tier 2 supply chains of global OEMs such as Boeing, Airbus, Rolls Royce, Thales, Eton, GE Aviation Dassault Aviation, Mitsubishi etc. With a thriving industrial ecosystem and strong policy support offered by the State, Hyderabad today is the most preferred aerospace investment destination in the country, the minister said.