Visakhapatnam: Closure of the Visakhapatnam airport runway during the night for the past four months has disrupted services to major cities like New Delhi, Hyderabad, Bengaluru, Kolkata and Pune.
The runway of the airport is being closed during nights, so that it could be resurfaced. It has impacted nearly a dozen flights, including the lone international flight to Singapore of Scoot Airlines.
“Night closure has disrupted multiple air services stemming from Visakhapatnam. This has inconvenienced numerous passengers and disrupted 90 international connections via Singapore. Currently, it is the winter season, peak time for tourists as well as weddings and festivals, when air travel is more. The impact has been significant,” says Vijay Mohan, a world tour travel agent.
In particular, service to Singapore, which is very important for Vizag's growth, has been hampered. Its significance can be estimated from the fact that Scoot Airlines chose to come to the rescue of passengers by rescheduling the Visakhapatnam-Singapore flight. But three domestic flights have been dropped.
“Visakhapatnam is an industry hub and most populous city of Andhra Pradesh. It is growing fast as a commercial hub and is the ninth richest city in the country. It is proposed to be the executive capital of Andhra Pradesh. Yet, we do not have a dedicated civil airport,” pointed out Ajay Kumar, who uses domestic flights regularly for his business trips.
Many political leaders and industrialists suggested that resurfacing work could be carried out from 10:30 p.m. to 6:30 a.m. the next day to minimise impact. But that has not happened.
Air travellers rue that night closure of the airport will continue for four months.
