Port City airport may take wings

Visakhapatnam: A representative of Silk Airways from Singapore is visiting Visakhapatnam on June 22 and 23 to consider the feasibility of operating a direct flight from Singapore to Vizag.
Informed sources close to Silk Airways indicated that if everything goes well, direct flights from Singapore could be operated from January 2010. Towards this end, the Air Travellers Association (ATA) is convening a series of meetings with shipping agents, satraps of industries, members of the local chamber of commerce and CII and hoteliers to garner support for pressurising the government to run international flights to and from Vizag.
The Union defence ministry has already cleared the manpower needs for round-the-clock operations at the airport. Presently, the airport -- under the control of Indian Navy -- operates between 8 am and 2 pm and from 5 pm to 8 pm. "Once the airport functions round the clock, airlines will come forward to operate their flights to various destinations from Vizag," ATA president D Varada Reddy said.
Sources said though the new airport terminal building had come into being a year ago, the proposal to run international flights has been hanging fire for dubious reasons. "Remember Vizag is the next most important destination after Hyderabad in the state and lack of international flights would be a blot on the city's landscape," an analyst said.
With investments ranging up to Rs 80,000 crore and another Rs 80,000 crore invested in refineries, ports, power plants, naval, atomic energy, educational institutions and tourism sector, Vizag has emerged as a major hub. "Yet, technocrats, consultants and tourists visit Visakhapatnam through Chennai or Hyderabad due to lack of direct connectivity from abroad," an observer noted.
Analysts said lack of international connectivity would certainly hamper the growth of the city, which boasts of a population of 1.8 million. Currently, 14 flights land in Vizag daily from Hyderabad, Delhi, Kolkata, Mumbai, Chennai and Bangalore. It may be recalled the Airports Authority of India (AAI) had spent Rs 97 crore to construct the new terminal which has 20 airline counters, parking facility for 600 cars and a capacity to handle 700 passengers an hour for the international flight operations.
15/06/09 Times of India

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Categories: Airports Jun 2009, Foreign Jun 2009