Hyderabad

The decision of the Indian Navy authorities not to allow night flight services at Visakhapatnam international airport on the ground of resurfacing work on the main runway for five months starting November is set to hit the flow of tourists and frequent air travellers from different parts of the country to the port city.

The Visakhapatnam airport, also known as INS Dega, is actually a civil enclave in the Naval air base belonging to Eastern Naval Command (ENC), which has been allowing civilian commercial aircraft during normal hours, apart from defence aircraft.

In a letter written to the airport director of Visakhapatnam airport on July 26, Commander of INS Dega, Capt Sanjeev K Agnihotri, said it was proposed to close down the main runway for the night operations – from 9 pm to 8 am the next day — with effect from November 15 till end of March, 2024 as it was rescheduled to undergo resurfacing.

The main runway is presently being utilised by civil flights all through the day and with the latest decision by the Naval authorities, it would not be available for landing and take-off of civilian aircraft for nearly half-a-day.

Agnihotri said a coordination meeting with airline operators was conducted at INS Dega on July 25 and the project details had been shared with the representatives concerned.

“The changed time schedule has been acknowledged by the airline operators. Besides, a mail has been forwarded to each airline operator to plan winter schedule accordingly,” he said.

Andhra Pradesh Air Travellers Association (APATA) expressed concern over the decision of the Naval authorities. “Visakhapatnam is the largest and most populous city in Andhra Pradesh. It is fast growing as a commercial hub and is the ninth richest city in the country. It is now proposed to be the executive capital of the state,” association vice president O Naresh Kumar said.

Kumar, also director of AP Chambers of Commerce and Industry and president of Visakhapatnam Development Council, said the decision would affect the operation of nearly 12 flights, including that of the only international flight of Scoot Airways to Singapore.

“It will cut off air connectivity to many places from Visakhapatnam causing inconvenience to many passengers and 90 global connections via Singapore,” he said.

Kumar said the coming winter season is a peak period for tourists and also time for weddings and festivals, during which period there would be demand for air travel. Besides, many investors and business people are preferring to make their visit to Visakhapatnam.

“There are several restrictions in peak hours during the day time also, restricting the civilian movement,” he pointed out.

In a letter written to the Union civil aviation ministry on August 5, APATA president K Kumar Raja said recently, N5 taxi track, which was built by the Airport Authority of India, came into operation and there is a potential increase of capacity for flight operations from 10 to 15 movements per hour.

“It can be allotted to civil flights without any reduction in slots for military movement,” Raja said and also appealed to the aviation ministry to help allot two additional slots per hour during day time for enabling the greater movement of civilian aircraft for improved economic activity.

He also asked the Centre to instruct the naval authorities to reschedule the restricted hours from 11 pm to 5.30 am next day so as to facilitate the operation of all flights in the Visakhapatnam airport with additional flying slots during peak hours also.

An airport official, who refused to be quoted, said the resurfacing of the runway should be done once in 10 years and the last time it was done in Visakhapatnam was in 2009. “It was delayed due to Covid-19 pandemic and hence, the Naval authorities have taken up the job now,” he said.

Former Union minister and state BJP president Daggubati Purandeshwari also wrote to the Union civil aviation ministry that the airport closure timings would disrupt the services to New Delhi, Hyderabad, Bengaluru, Kolkata and Pune, apart from Singapore. “Visakhapatnam is an emerging industrial hub, catering to the needs of pharma, garment, aqua and other sectors, besides a major tourist destination. Closing the airport for 11 hours would be detrimental to its progress,” she said.

Purandeshwari suggested that the resurfacing work could be taken up from 10.30 pm to 6.30 am next day.