Vizag airport sees surge in travellers, records all time high passenger traffic in May@ 1,02, 535

By SNV Sudhir

Visakhapatnam, June 13, 2013: Vizag airport has recorded all time high passenger traffic in May by crossing 1, 01, 216 passengers recorded in ecember 2012.

The number of air travelers, both domestic and international, stood at 1, 02,535 in May this year. In last  May 2012, airport witnessed 98,000 passengers. Around 15 including two international, flights operate from city airport to destinations like Ahmedabad, Mumbai, Banglore, Chennai, Kochi, Hyderabad, Bhunbaneswar, Kolkata, Delhi, Singapore and Dubai.

The passenger traffic increased manifold at Vizag airport in the last 8 years. In 2003-04 airport witnessed just 14,880 passengers arriving and departing while in 2011-12, it rose to 9.6 lakh and more than 11 lakh in 2012-13 fiscal.

With 95 percent occupancy in domestic flights and 70 percent in the two international flights, demand for round the clock operations at the airport, which is controlled by Indian Navy, on all the days, by local trade bodies, business and air travelers associations has gained momentum.

At present airport is operated round the clock only on three days in a week and on the remaining days it is open from 8am to 11pm only. “There has been demand from all the corners for round the clock operations on all the days. We are actively considering the demand and hopeful that airport will be opened 24/7 very soon,” Airport Director, K Srinivaa Rao told this correspondent.

However, it is learnt that though the defence ministry gave a go ahead nod for round the clock operations on three days a week, no airline is keen on operating late night or early morning flight which is said to have made the concerned authorities rethink about extending 24hrs operations during the remaining three days.

On the other hand, international airlines like Air Arabia are keen on introducing flight from Vizag to Sharjah and a team from Thai Smile is also expected to come to Vizag to conduct a feasibility study to introduce a flight to Bangkok in Thailand.

“Air Arabia delegation already visited Vizag for direct flights to Sharjah and is hopeful of starting soon. This 24/7 operations will help a quick decision. We will help extend all cooperation to the Thai delegation by facilitating  interactions with all tour operators, hotel association and trade bodies to  enable Thai Air to help the 3 crore population within 200kms of Vizag to go international at very affordable rates. We expect more international carriers to come to Vizag,” said O Naresh Kumar of Vizag Development Council (VDC).