Aviation sources reckon that the air passengers located closer to Hyderabad will still prefer to fly from there while the others are expected to patronize the new airport at Bhogapuram in Vizianagaram district.
Vijayawada: More air passengers from Andhra Pradesh would take off from the Alluri Sitarama Raju International Airport once it becomes operational from mid-night August 17, reducing their dependence on Hyderabad for domestic and international connectivity.
Aviation sources reckon that the air passengers located closer to Hyderabad will still prefer to fly from there while the others are expected to patronize the new airport at Bhogapuram in Vizianagaram district. Those from parts of coastal Andhra and Rayalaseema and north Andhra would prefer to fly from the new airport, provided it has more domestic and international connectivity, they feel.
They say that a majority of air passengers prefer flying in domestic aircrafts to catch flights for international travel and those who can’t afford to spare more time by road or train, will prefer flying in domestic aircraft.
If the new international airport gets well connected with domestic and international travel destinations, more air passengers would travel from the Bhogapuram facility. As this happens, the sources of revenue to the Hyderabad airport may be dented. International airports collect several standard statutory and operational fees from passengers, like user development fee, passenger service fee, aviation security fee, as also tax and custom levies imposed by the government, with some of these included in the price of flight tickets.
The Vijayawada international airport registers the arrival of 27 flights and departure of 27 flights per day and has connectivity to Hyderabad, Bengaluru, Delhi, Mumbai,Chennai, Visakhapatnam, Tirupati, Kadapa, Kurnool and Varanasi from August 13. It also has international connectivity to Singapore thrice a week and Sharjah twice a week, whereby five international flights are being operated a week.
There are seven to eight flights to Hyderabad and five to six flights to Bengaluru a day from the airport and it at present has belly cargo in scheduled flights.
Vijayawada airport director Lakshmi Kanth Reddy said, “People living close to our airport would naturally prefer to fly from here. As we have only limited international connectivity, they may go to the nearby airport where more international connectivity is available. The more the domestic and international connectivity to an airport, the better it gets huge patronage from the air passengers.”
Air passengers meanwhile note that the Visakhapatnam airport has lost connectivity to Colombo, Bangkok, Kaulalumpur and Dubai with an exception being for Singapore. They want the connectivity to be restored to the new airport at Bhogapuram. They are also seeking connectivity to international hubs like Dubai, Singapore, Frankfurt and London.
A call is also for promoting cargo import and export from the new airport by establishing the infrastructure like multiple warehouses, special cargo handling equipment and cargo screening equipment. Potential is huge for export of pharma products, gold, flowers from Kadiam, mangoes from Vizianagaram, cashewnut from Srikakulam and marine products from Visakhapatnam even though the share of air cargo is nearly five per cent, with 95 per cent going through ships.
Air travellers are also seeking the operation of dedicated cargo and courier flights from the new airport.
AP air travellers association vice president Naresh Kumar said, “The new airport has huge potential for both domestic and international flights and also for handling cargo and courier services, provided proper attention is paid and requisite infrastructure established, so that it will compete with the international airports in Hyderabad, Chennai and Bengaluru in the coming days.”
