Santosh Patnaik Visakhapatnam

Asthe Alluri Sitarama Raju International Airport is getting ready for commercial operations from next month, air travellers have urged the State Government to extend its support for better international connectivity from the new airport developed by GMR Group by offering Viability Gap Funding (VGF).

At present, Visakhapatnam International Airport operates as a civil enclave on INS Dega aribase of Indian Navy with a 3,050 meter runway and night-landing facility under the control of Airports Authority of India. At present, it has a direct flight between the city and Singapore by Scoot Airlines. Another flight to Abu Dhabi was suspended due to conflict in West Asia. This was preceded by withdrawal of direct flights to Bangkok, Kualalupmpur and Colombo by low-cost air carriers on 'technical grounds.'

The air travellers want that the new airport at Bhogapuram should have direct flights to Europe, UK, Gulf, SE Asia for which urgent measures are required to develop the Coastal Corridor, a road parallel to the National Highway and flyovers to reach the airport from different directions of Visakhapatnam in a hassle-free manner.

In a representation to Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu, Andhra Pradesh Air Travelers Association (APATA) president Dr K Kumar Raja, vice-presidents DS Varma and O. Naresh Kumar, the Bhogapuram International Airport will be the first true international gateway for 1.7+ crore people of North Coastal AP and South Odisha. The airport’s global success hinges on one decision: launching direct international flights from Day . Visakhapatnam is rapidly becoming the Data Centre and AI Capital of India. with multi-billion-dollar investments by Google, Reliance Industries Ltd, Sify Technologies, Meta and others committing heavy investments. RMZ Group and AirTrunk also have plans for mega investments.

Many anticipate that the city will metamorphose into a metropolis once big ticket projects like the steel plant by ArcelorMittal-Nippon Steel (India) with an investment of Rs.1.35 lakh and Green Hydrogen Hub by NTPC Green Ltd with an investment of over Rs.1 lakh crore materialise. A new pharma cluster is coming up near Nakkapalli. Several semiconductors & electronics industries under the ESDM policy are expected along with giga scale battery storage and EV component making units.

APATA says all these sectors generate high-yield international business travel, expat traffic, technical teams, and urgent cargo. Without direct international flights from Bhogapuram, AP will lose FDI, MICE tourism, and global talent to Bengaluru/Hyderabad. With it, Bhogapuram becomes the gateway for India’s next growth engine.

APATA office-bearers appealed to the Chief Minister to impress upon the officials concerned to ply flights to Frankfurt, London, Dubai, :Kuala Lumpur, Bangkok and Colombo to take care of the Telugu diaspora settled in Europe, promote IT, fintech, education sectors and business traffic as well as the requirement for MICE tourism.