 Roughly three years after the foundation stone laying ceremony, the airport was inaugurated on 14 March 2008 amid protests.The Telugu Desam Party (TDP) repeated its demand for the naming of the domestic terminal.In addition, on 12 and 13 March, 20,000 AAI employees had conducted a strike against the closure of Begumpet Airport, as well as that of HAL Airport in Bangalore, fearing they would lose their jobs.