The scheduled first flight of SilkAir to Singapore from the city airport was made possible only because of the efforts of many persons, Minister of State for Human Resource Development D. Purandeswari said on Saturday and thanked each one of them for their commitment to make it a reality.
Addressing the Visakha Vimana Vijayotsava Sabha organised by Visakha Air Travellers’ Association (VATA) to felicitate those responsible for making this long-cherished dream a reality, Ms. Purandeswari downplayed her contribution to the effort. She named all the persons who worked behind the screen to make it a reality.
She thanked Union Finance Minister P. Chidambaram for sanctioning the additional posts to make 24X7 operations at the airport a reality in the near future.
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She thanked Chief Minister N. Kiran Kumar Reddy, the Defence Minister, the Aviation Minister, the Chief of Eastern Naval Command, officials of different departments, and also the Navy for enabling SilkAir operate flights from the city, thereby connecting it to the rest of the world. Explaining the importance of SilkAir flights from the city, CEO of Symbiosys Technologies and member of VATA O. Naresh Kumar said with this connectivity people of the city would be able to fly to 19 countries via Singapore on a single boarding pass. If the traveller opted for halting at Singapore, then he or she would be able fly to 1,400 airports in 193 countries from Singapore.
Thanking every person for their contribution to the effort, president of VATA Ch. Ramakotaiah said the move was possible only because of the efforts made by Ms. Purandeswari. The contribution of the media, whose coverage of related issues helped make international connectivity possible, was recognised.
Earlier, Pushkeshwar Rao of Simhadri Steels gifted an electric golf cart to the Visakhapatnam airport for the convenience of travellers inside the airport. A team of folk artistes from Vizianagaram performed ‘tappetagallu’ dance.
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Payakaraopeta MLA Golla Babu Rao, airport Director Srinivas Rao, K. Kumar Raja and P. Vishnu Kumar Raju of VATA, chairman of Daspalla Group of Hotels M. Raghavendra Rao, former president of VATA D. Panduranga Rao, representatives of SilkAir, contractor of the new airport M. Venkata Rao, S. Vijaykumar of Vijay Nirman Construction Company, and a host of personalities from the city were present.