History
Begumpet Airport was established in the 1930s with formation of Hyderabad Aero Club. Initially it was used by Nizam of Hyderabad as 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.
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 A 320 and Boeing 737. The airport had limited night landing facilities and only 40% of Andhra Pradesh's international traffic flowed through the airport, due to 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. President George W. Bush's Air Force One landed and took off from Begumpet during his visit to Hyderabad in early 2006.
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