Monday, May 28, 2018

Wait for international flight services from Gannavaram gets longer

Vijayawada: :  The wait for international services from Gannavaram airport seems to take a little more time as the Air India has not yet finalised its plan for the same. In fact, Air India withdrew its proposal to start international services from Gannavaram airport a week ago due to some hurdles in getting security clearances. But with the intervention of Vice-President M Venkaiah Naidu during his recent visit to Vijayawada, things have started rolling again.  Though the Gannavaram airport received international status in May 2017, international services are yet to take off. 

Early this year, Air India has given nod to start services to Dubai with a Boeing carrying 160 passengers in each trip. However, fearing low passenger traffic, Air India wanted to operate a hopping flight through Mumbai, but it didn’t get security clearances from the Ministry of External Affairs.  The ministry said that both the domestic and international passengers will be in Mumbai from the originating place (Vijayawada) and it will pose a security threat.  Meanwhile, airport authorities have initiated talks with other airline companies like Singapore-based Silkair and Dubai-based Emirates and flydubai.

In March, a Silkair team visited and examined parking bays, runway, terminal and immigration and customs sections. They discussed the viabilities and business options with Airport Director G Madhusudan Rao. It is said that the State Government has assured minimum seat guarantee for the services. The airways are expected to operate services to Singapore and Malaysia, which is in the pending stage.
28/05/18 New Indian Express
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