Thanks to the government’s announcement of the new capital, the occupancy ratio of airlines operating from Gannavaram airport has touched 80 per cent as against the previous 35 per cent.
Close to 1,000 passengers depend on as many as 16 services operated from the airport everyday, with the first taking off around 7.15 a.m. and the last landing around 9.30 p.m.
Airport officials said Air Costa, SpiceJet and national carrier Air India were operating daily services from the airport. Air Costa and SpiceJet cater to the needs of passengers with 67-seating capacity flights, while Air India’s A319 flight has 120 seats, airport officials said.
“The flurry of activity witnessed in the region is a reason behind the rise in occupancy ratio. Industrialists, real-estate businessmen and politicians have been regularly visiting Vijayawada for business inquiries. Representatives of multi-national companies are also coming to the city attend meeting with their local clientele,” officials said. According to them, Air India introduced services between Delhi and Vijayawada, facilitating passengers to reach the national capital in a few hours. Two other private airlines are conducting services to Hyderabad, Visakhapatnam, Tirupati and Bangalore.
Vijayawada MP Kesineni Srinivas had recently chalked out an action plan with Air India officials for introducing services to Chennai, Bangalore, Tirupati, Hyderabad, Mumbai and Ahmedabad owing to increasing passenger patronage.
Airport Director M. Rajkishore said the occupancy ratio had gone up significantly, and efforts were on to provide better amenities to passengers.
