Vizag airport to be available to civilian aircrafts 24×7

In what comes as a major relief to many civilians, it has been confirmed that Vizag airport will now be available to civilian aircrafts 24×7. The move is expected to avoid inconvenience to the passengers travelling through the city.

Announcing the same, Union Defence Minister, Sri Nirmala Sitharaman tweeted, “To avoid inconvenience to any civilian passenger flying in and out of Vishakhapatnam, the Ministry of Defence assures that no restrictions are placed on the operation of civilian airlines at Vizag airport which will be available to civilian aircrafts 24×7.”

Earlier, the Indian Navy had informed that the public services would be halted from 9:00 am to 12:30 pm in the morning and 3:00 pm to 5:00 pm during the evenings, starting from 1 November. Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu then wrote a letter to Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman requesting not to impose the restrictions, at least until the establishment of  Greenfield International Airport at Bhogapuram, Vizianagaram district.

Also, Member of Parliament Kambampati Haribabu, MLA Vishnukumar Raju and MLC Madhav, in a meeting with the Eastern Naval Commanding-in-chief Karambir Singh, suggested the curbs on civilian flights be withdrawn at Vizag airport.

It was also reported that owing to the tentative impositions, several flights were cancelled from the city’s airport. Now, with the clarification coming in from the Defence Minister, the concerned authorities expect more flights to operate from the city.