The construction of six new parking bays at Visakhapatnam International Airport is nearing completion. The parking bays will facilitate some of the airline operators to schedule early morning flights from Vizag to various destinations.
Airline operators, especially those operating late night flights to Vizag, can park their planes overnight and operate early morning flights based on the demand. Alliance Air has been parking its flight for the past few months and a few more are expected to follow suit on completion of the new bays.
The parking bays will be in high demand during international events like the Partnership Summit, being held regularly for the last couple of years in Visakhapatnam and the International Fleet Review in which Prime Minister Narendra Modi and delegates from various countries had attended.
Visakhapatnam Airport had handled around 1,400 national and international delegates, who participated in the CII AP Partnership Summit held in January this year. The VVIP s, who participated in the summit, included foreign delegates from Ukraine, UAE, Singapore, Malaysia and Sri Lanka. Despite the handling of chartered flights and special flights, the airport authorities had ensured that the operation of scheduled flights was not affected on those two days.
The existing apron has six (3 open bays and 3 aero bridges) parking stands to accommodate six aircraft at a time. This apart, the old apron (near the Old Terminal Building) has two parking stands, which are being used for non-scheduled aircraft and helicopter operations.
The present project, which was taken up at a cost of ₹25 crore, was originally scheduled for completion in July. Painting works, being done for the past few days, have been hampered by frequent rains.
MLA P. Vishnu Kumar Raju, who is also president of the Vizag Development Council (VDC), and VDC Vice-President O. Naresh Kumar, met senior officials in the Ministry of Civil Aviation in New Delhi, in the presence of airport director G. Prakash Reddy in New Delhi recently.
“The officials said the new parking bays would be inaugurated in the next two weeks. Air Costa had sought two slots for parking of their aircraft at Vizag Airport in the past and had confirmed their plans. The airline, which is presently said to be in a financial crisis, may seek parking slots once it gets over the problem,” said Mr. Naresh Kumar.
