World’s biggest passenger jet, the A-380, at Warangal..???

New copter for YSR to arrive soon from Italy ...Airports Authority of India is pushing to build an airport that can accommodate the world’s biggest passenger jet, the A-380, at Warangal. The AAI wants the government to allot 1,600 acres in Warangal, which will be big enough to build an international airport. No airport in the state except the one at Shamshabad is more than 500-1000 acres. Official sources told this correspondent that a high-level team of AAI officials held discussions with the infrastructure and investment department over land acquisition on Monday. The team had earlier visited the airport site at Warangal. “The AAI proposed Code F facilities for the Warangal airport. It wanted to build a longer runway to accommodate even Airbus 380,” a senior official said.Inquiries revealed that neither the AAI nor the state government had conducted any survey to assess the traffic potential for the airport which is three hours by road from here. “The airport will be operating flights to Hyderabad and Tirupati initially and later focus on Visakhapatnam and other centres outside the state,” said AAI manager Ramanath during his visit to Warangal. But latest data indicates that airlines are withdrawing flights to metros, not to mention Tier-II cities. The new helicopter meant for use by Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y. S. Rajasekhara Reddy will arrive here on July 17 from Italy. The State government has purchased an AW-139 chopper at a cost of Rs. 54 crore from Augusta Westland, world leader in manufacture of helicopters, going by its advanced technology and superior features. The present aircraft, a Bell 430, which was purchased for Rs. 20 crore in 1998, has been found to be inadequate in terms of seating capacity and was also requiring frequent repairs and overhauling. The Bell 430, like most helicopters used by the VVIPs in India, is a six-seater. The AW-139 of Augusta Westland, in contrast, can accommodate 14 persons, apart from pilot and co-pilot.