Now Vijayawada airport can handle bigger aircraft

Vijayawada/Rajamahendravaram/Visakhapatnam: Vijayawada airport, which achieved rapid progress since bifurcation of the state, reached another milestone on Tuesday as its extended runway was inaugurated by Union minister of commerce and Industry, civil aviation Suresh Prabhu on Tuesday. The Union minister along with MPs Gokaraju Gangaraju, M Murali Mohan and others inaugurated it through video-link.

The Airports Authority of India expanded the runway from 2,286 metres to 3,360 metres at a cost of Rs 150 crore. The runway expansion works were started in February 2017.  With the expansion of the runway, bigger aircraft like B 747 400 and B 777 300 can land safely in the airport. Moreover, the passenger traffic can be increased in addition to the one million passenger traffic handled by the airport.

Former state minister Dr Kamineni Srinivas, airport director G Madhusudan Rao and other attended the inauguration programme at the airport in Gannavaram. Suresh Prabhu also launched the expanded runway of Rajamahendravaram airport besides laying stone for expansion of terminal building in Visakhapatnam airport. 

The runway in Rajamahendravaram was extended to  3,165 metre from 1,750 metre, which will enable introduction of air services to New Delhi,  Kolkata,  Mumbai, Shirdi, Tirupathi, etc., The air traffic has been increasing by the year from the airport as it is located between Amaravathi and Visakhapatnam.  

The programme of laying of stone for expansion of terminal building in Visakhapatnam was attended by Visakhapatnam MP K Haribabu and Vizianagaram MP P Ashok Gajapathi Raju in New Delhi.  On the occasion, Suresh Prabhu said that the government was keen to attend all the future needs and challenges as the air traffic was increasing fast.