VIJAYAWADA: Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu has appealed to Civil Aviation Minister P. Ashok Gajapathi Raju to name the Vijayawada (Gannavaram) airport after actor and founder-president of Telugu Desam Party N.T. Rama Rao.
“It is my request that the airport be named as ‘NTR Airport, Amaravati’ for the sake of giving it a distinct brand,” he said while inaugurating the new terminal building of the airport on Thursday.
Mr. Naidu said it would be appropriate to name the airport coming up in the Capital region after the late leader, as he hailed from the place and had been a great leader Andhra Pradesh could boast of.
“By giving his name to the brand new airport, we will be etching his name in people‘s memory forever,” Mr. Naidu observed.
Earlier, inaugurating the Aviation Summit in a star hotel, Mr. Ashok Gajapathi Raju said there was a proposal to rename the Gannavaram Airport as Amaravati Airport.
“I am very excited by the suggestion because the name Amaravati is connected to the history of Telugus,” he said.
The airport is now referred to as Gannavaram airport due to its proximity to the village by that name.
Airline companies, however, prefer using ‘Vijayawada’ for ticketing purpose using the abbreviations VGA (IATA) and VOBZ (ICAO). The name and abbreviation of the airport are likely to be changed.
