GMR Hyderabad International Airport (HIA) is expected to release duty free tender document papers this week to its short list of retailers who have been accepted as potential contract bidders.

Companies with their respective joint venture partners known to be interested in retail opportunities at the new green field Hyderabad Airport include Nuance, DFS Group, Flemingo International, Alpha Airports, Aer Rianta International and Gebr Heinemann.

Interestingly, the new airport – which is scheduled to open on March 1 2008 – promises to rival any modern airport in terms of facilities and will certainly raise the bar for all airports in India, including rivaling the facilities now being introduced by the private consortia at Mumbai and Delhi airports. It also has a very commercially-minded management.

Initial estimates suggest that HIA – which is located at Shamshabad – will serve around 7m passengers in its first year and such is the growth of air traffic at the existing run down Hyderabad Aiport at Begumpet that GMR management has upped its initial forecast to 12m passengers a year by 2010. All traffic from the existing airport will transfer to the new facility from day one of the opening.

The new airport will have an ultimate two-terminal capacity of 40m passengers a year and the first phase of construction (begun in 2004) relates to the first terminal building. Subsequent phases will add capacity to 20m and beyond 2035 a second terminal will be built.

The new terminal will be a major departure – in terms of architecture, space and finish – from other Indian airports and will be ?state of the art? to rival the best in Europe. The total cost of the terminal in both cost and financing will be $315m.

Most importantly, the management of the new Hyderabad airport is promising that the international retail tender process will be transparent, open and fair and it is placing great importance on the revenues it will derive from commercial operations.

It is also promising that for the first time an Indian airport will be built and designed to create ‘world class’ major duty and tax free facilities post-security.