Rajamahendravaram Airport to see major expansion in coming days

Rajamahendravaram: Airports Authority of India (AAI) is developing the Rajamahendravaram airport on all fronts as the airport will play pivotal role in the ensuing days and it is centrally located between Vijayawada and Visakhapatnam.

Necessary facilities are provided for the landing wide bodied aircraft (A-321,B738) and a new terminal building is also coming up to cater to the needs of increasing air traffic.

According to airport director Manoj Kumar Nayak, Director-General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) accorded permission for handling of A-321,B738

aircraft and coordinating with respective airlines for the operation of A-321 to Rajamahendravaram. Indigo airlines is interested to operate A-321 aircraft to Rajamahendravaram, but not yet finalised by the concerned airlines.

At present Rajamahendravaram is connected to Hyderabad, Bangalore and Chennai every day. From March 28 this year, Indigo and TruJet airlines will operate 25 new services to Tirupati, Chennai, Visakhapatnam, Hyderabad and Bangalore.

The passenger traffic escalated to 28,900 in December 2020, as against of 7,700 in July 2020. He further added, Bureau of Civil Aviation (BCA) regional director has completed inspection of interim cargo domestic terminal and expressed satisfaction and after getting security clearance cargo operation also be commenced.

Expansion of aprons are also under progress to accommodate 11 A-321type aircraft. Instrument Landing System also coming up shortly to facilitate the operation of aircraft in low visibility condition. A new domestic departure terminal also will be established with an estimated cost of Rs 135 crore with modern facilities such as aero bridges. The upcoming terminal will handle 1,400 passengers (700 arrivals and 700 departures).

The airport is committed for the smooth flow of passengers by enhancing different facilities in a user-friendly way.