Poor infrastructure puts off air travellers Focus

Visakhapatnam: Though Visakhapatnam airport is four decades old, under the control of Indian Navy’s INS Dega, in the name of security and safety of naval establishment, there is hardly any development in the airport till early this century.
Despite that, the airlines companies are willing to operate more flights but they could not do so as there is restriction on civilian flight movement between 5 p.m. and 8 a.m.For instance, though the night landing facility was installed and successfully tested here about five months ago, due to the inter-ministerial communication problem between the civil aviation and the defence ministry, the file is yet to be cleared. It is said the Navy is claiming that the night landing facility installed here is only 80 per cent effective which is disputed by the Airport Authority of India. Another problem faced by the Navy is manpower shortage to operate the air traffic control, which is under its control. The major political parties too have ignored the issue, busy as they are in pursuing their own agenda keeping the 2009 Assembly elections in mind. The sufferers are passengers, particularly investors, corporate managers, patients who need to travel in emergency and business class as their mobility is greatly curtailed due to poor infrastructure.
Another recurring problem every year during monsoon is flooding of the airport runway and apron area due to flood waters entering from adjoining hills. While in 2005 the airport was closed for nearly 15 days due to flooding, it was closed for about a week last year.
The terminal, which will have facilities for customs, immigration, two aerobridges, escalators, duty-free shops, parking space for 600 cars, 150-feet-wide approach road, online conveyor system etc. is expected to be ready by July 2008, as usual with a delay of four months for the time being.
15/11/07 Agencies/Siasat Daily

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Categories: Airports Nov 2007