Air Asia is planning to operate thrice a week from Vizag to Kuala Lumpur, and if all goes well, the inaugural flight may take off in October this year. Based on the success of the Kuala Lumpur (KL) flight Air Asia may also plan to operate to Vizag from Bangkok besides connecting Vizag to other destinations in India.
These are some of the plans of the low cost airline as part of its efforts to develop a long-term relationship with Vizag, Air Asia India General Manager - India Suresh Nair said at a meeting organised by the Air Travellers’ Association (India) here on Tuesday.
Air Asia plans to fix the inaugural fares at Rs.8,000 from Vizag to KL and back, Mr. Nair said and expressed the view that Vizag has immense potential for growth in view of the strong industry base, tourist potential and proposed investments in various sectors.
ATA (I) president D. Varada Reddy said 44 services were operating in and out of Vizag Airport and the latest entrant was Air Costa, which was providing direct connections to Hyderabad and Bangalore. The number was expected to go up to 60 by May-end, he said. He said Air Arabia was also ready to operate daily from Sharjah to Vizag and was awaiting permission from the Union government in this regard. Air Lanka has plans to fly to Vizag in view of the presence of a large number of Buddhist heritage sites in and around Visakhapatnam.
He told the Air Asia delegation that two international flights were operating out of Vizag. The Air India flight from Vizag to Dubai via Hyderabad daily and the frequency of the direct flight from Vizag to Singapore by Silk Air was increased from thrice to four times a week recently.
Andhra University Vice-Chancellor G.S.N. Raju, former president of the Confederation of Indian Industry G. Sambasiva Rao, and K.V. Raju of Hospira spoke.
