The Airports Authority of India (AAI) is hopeful of improvement in passengers’ patronage at Ganavaram airport here after finalisation of a new capital for the residuary State of Andhra Pradesh.
Presently, four airlines, including the Government-owned Air India, are operating flights from the airport to Hyderabad, Bangalore and other cities. Within a few months, an airline company is coming up to operate flights from the Ganavaram airport to all the cities in South India. Plans have also been drawn up to provide air connectivity to Delhi, Jaipur, Mumbai and Bangalore from here.
“We expect more airlines will start their services from here once confusion over new capital is cleared,” says Airport Director B.G. Patil. There will be no problems for companies to launch their operations even at night as permission for the night landing facility was also granted. “Five Airbus A321 can be parked easily on the premises,” he says adding that airlines were now operating flights ranging between 68 and 119-seater.
Listing out a series of measures taken up for development of the airport, the Director says that a master plan was already prepared to ensure better facilities for passengers. The runway has been extended to over 2,000 feet in addition to the existing 7,500 feet long to accommodate more flights. Works pertaining to construction of an approach road, cargo, fire station and hangar would be taken up after getting necessary land from the State government.
The AAI has signed an MoU with the State Government in 2007 to develop the airport with a cost of Rs.400 crore. The Government has also promised to allocate land at free of cost. “We have already completed Rs.150 crore works,” he adds.
