Vijayawada: After bifurcation of the state, the air traffic to Vijayawada has been considerably increasing. At least 1-2 persons from nearly 60 per cent of families living in and around Vijayawada and Guntur cities are Non-Resident Indians (NRIs), according to a study carried out recently.
In addition to this fact, the Chief Minister also has plans to make the Vijayawada airport a world-class facility and so the authorities have to look at the construction of a new integrated terminal building. In fact, works relating to this terminal will start in 2019 only, according to Mr Madhusudana Rao. The expenditure for the construction of the terminal is estimated at Rs 534 crore.
However, keeping the Krishna Pushkarams in view, the airport authorities are now concentrating on increasing facilities immediately.
As per the available statistics, 10 more parking bays are getting ready. However, the Director General-Civil Aviation (DGCA) has to take a final call on their commissioning, as per the norms. In view of Pushkarams, it is expected that five parking bays will be commissioned before August, according to Mr Rao.
Director G Madhusudana Rao. In the new scenario and also lot of non-scheduled arrivals are expected, all the airlines are asked to equip their aircrafts with push-back hydraulic system.
Similarly, the new interim building will be opened before August, despite the pending works. As it is noticed 500 peak time passenger traffic in the last few days, the Airport authorities are striving hard to complete the interim building works. With related to Cargo facilities, the authorities are expecting that Cargo building will be commissioned before October. However, keeping the anticipated increase in the air traffic into consideration, the authorities have decided to develop 300 car parking facility, before July 31.
Apart from these developments, the Director Madhusudana Rao said that Indigo wants to have night parking facility at Vijayawada, as it wants to initiate operations from here, by making it as southern hub. As there is 56 percent of increase in the air traffic is registered in the recent past, the authorities also started concentrated on security measures. The authorities will install 37 cameras for CCTV monitoring purpose, and Flight Information Development System will be commissioned before July 31. Apart from these, 4 more aero bridges will be constructed in the new integrated terminal building.
