The Gannavaram airport lost yet another chance to have a direct flight to Mumbai via Hyderabad as it did not have the required level of fire fighting equipment or infrastructure to receive Boeing 737-800 planes.
Permission denial
The Jet Airways wanted to start a service from Mumbai to Vijayawada via Hyderabad from March 31. But the Airport Authority of India did not give permission as the airport lacks the Category 6 fire service capability. Making this observation, the Andhra Chamber of Commerce and Industry president Muthavarapu Muralikrishna has appealed to the AAI to equip the Vijayawada (Gannavaram) airport with fire fighting capability to receive even A 320/321 types of aircraft in addition to Boeing 737-800 planes.
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“The Jet Airways had announced a month ago online launching of the service and sold tickets. The demand was also very good, but due to lack of the AAI permission, they had cancelled the flight,” said Mr. Muralikrishna. The need for upgradation of the fire fighting capacity was not an investment-intensive measure, hence it should be done immediately, he added.
The Andhra Chamber president also wanted the security hold areas at the existing terminal be improved and made larger as many passengers were forced to wait in long queues.