Santosh Patnaik Visakhapatnam

VisakhapatnamInternational Airport will be shut down for commercial flights from July 8 as the greenfield airport built at Bhogapuram, 45 km from here will be operational from that day.

Bhogapuram Airport named Alluri Sitarama Raju Airport, is being developed in phases by the GMR Group. The first phase of the project is on verge of completion. Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu said several times that the new airport will be inaugurated in July.

The new airport is scheduled to be completed (as per revised deadline) by June 30, 2026 to handle six million passengers annually.

The first phase is completed through EPC contractor L&T at a cost of around Rs.4,500 crore.

An official communication from Scoot says that it will operate its direct flight to and from Visakhapatnam to Singapore from Terminal 1 of Alluri Sitarama Raju International Airport from July 8. "All commercial flights will shift to Bhogarpuam from July 8," Tours and Travel Agents' Association of Andhra (TTAA) president K. Vijay Mohan told Bizz Buzz on Friday.

Closure of Visakhapatnam International Airport was promised to GMR Group in the concession agreement though the Airport Authority of India (AAI) toyed with the idea of allowing dual airports to function in Visakhapatnam in 2018. Visakhapatnam Airport, which has a night-landing facility is located on the INS Dega air station of the Indian Navy--civil enclave. As it belongs to the Navy, it has certain restrictions on operation of flights 24x7. Airport Advisory Committee member O. Naresh Kumar had strongly demanded two airports for Visakhapatnam as the city is growing at a very fast pace. In an official communication, Scoot said: "We have an important update regarding our operations to Visakhapatnam. Effective July 8, its flights will shift to Alluri Sitarama Raju International Airport at Bhogapuram.

"Scoot's check-in counters will be located inside Terminal 1 and will open 2.5 hours before the flight's scheduled departure time.