Airports Authority of India (AAI) is in the process of increasing the passenger handling capacity of Vijayawada airport at Gannavaram to one million passengers per annum from the existing four lakh, a senior official of the national airports handler said today.
The foundation stone for the new interim terminal building is expected to be laid in a day or two, the official apprised.
"The current capacity is about 35,000 passengers per month (about 4 lakh per annum). The new interim terminal building will have the capacity to handle one million passengers. The AAI would be spending Rs 130 crore on the facility that would come up in 9500 square meters area," the official told PTI on condition of anonymity.
The construction work which is expected to be completed in 15 months would be taken up soon after the laying of the foundation stone by Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu and union Civil Aviation Minister Ashok Gajapathi Raju, the official said.
The once sleepy airport in the truncated state of Andhra Pradesh which used to have just 10 flights a day, now witnesses 27 flights with a runway of 7,500 feet largely due to the increased activity in Vijayawada and Guntur following the government's decision to shift activities from Hyderabad to the coastal cities.
Regional carrier Air Costa has now planned to resume its services to Visakhapatnam from Vijayawada soon in view of the shifting of administrative activities from Hyderabad to the new capital city Amaravati, an official of the carrier said.
Another regional flier Trujet said that besides regular one daily flight between Hyderabad and Vijayawada, it is offering one additional flight on the sector on October 21 and three more on October 22 to meet the demand.
The AAI official earlier quoted said the traffic of the airport may not decline even after the official activities are shifted from Hyderabad to Vijayawada (or Amaravati) despite the fact that the surge in the air traffic is largely due to the government officials travelling to Andhra Pradesh from the joint capital.
Prime Minister Naredra Modi, many foreign and Indian VIPs are scheduled to attend the foundation stone laying ceremony of the new capital of AP on October 22.
