New terminal at Vizag Airport readying for operations

Visakhapatnam: New Airport Terminal building in Visakhapatnam is almost ready for operations. The terminal at Visakhapatnam International Airport, which is set have more flights to foreign destinations soon, was

built by the Airport Authority India at a cost of Rs 60 crore. The construction was behind schedule due to the Covid-19.

With the expansion of the terminal building, an additional 10,000 sqm of space will be added to the existing 20,000 sqm.

Total footfalls in Visakhapatnam in 2021-22 were 16,10,483 against 11,13,516 in 2020-21. Aircraft movements were 14,878 up 39.5 per cent over last year.

Pre-Covid, 28,53,990 passengers travelled from Visakhapatnam during financial year 2018-19.

YSRCP MP MVV Satyanarayana along with airport Director Srinivas along with Airport Advisory Committee members K Kumar Raja, DS Varma and O Naresh Kumar reviewed the progress of the new terminal building. Naresh Kumar later said as of now all works are complete and only cleaning work is in progress. Shifting of the Customs/Immigration computers to new terminal is pending. The new spacious building can now seat more than double the passengers currently operating from the existing building. It will help in smooth flow of passengers both in domestic and international terminals.

Meanwhile, the airport officials have been requested to allow passengers to start using this immediately as a trial test as a prelude to full commercial operation. He agreed to do it, the advisory committee members said.

With operation of new N5 Taxi Track, additional parking bays were recently. The additional space would be utilised exclusively for international arrivals and departures. The existing space, which is now being used for international arrivals and departures will be used to cater to the needs of the requirements of the domestic passengers.

The new terminal building has six parking bays and three aero-bridges. Six more are already operational. It will facilitate parking of 12 planes at a time. In one hour, 12 flights can land and take off which means handling over 3,000 passengers at the airport at a time. The expansion of the terminal building is expected to take care of that load. the extra space will help ensure social distancing.

Two new baggage handling belts and four additional departure gates have been added.

In addition to these, there are four parking bays at the apron near the old terminal building. These parking bays are now being used for the movements of non-scheduled aircraft and VIP planes.The canopy work is also fully completed and operational. Cargo tonnage was 4326 tons, up 14.5 per cent.