Vijayawada: Vijayawada Airport located in Gannavaram with two terminal buildings and a runway is getting ready for international services. The expansion works of the runway are going on at a brisk pace. The Union government had decided to set up immigration office very soon at the airport and customs department has already trained 50 officers and staff to begin services at the airport.

Singapore and Dubai are the two cities to be connected with Vijayawada initially. Singapore airlines came forward to operate two flights every week. The new terminal building was made of steel and glass structure with state-of-art passenger-friendly facilities such as baggage handling system, arrival baggage claim carousels, central air-conditioning, public address system, fire alarm system, flight information display system, CCTV for surveillance and check-in counters with common use terminal equipment.

Bigger aircraft can safely land on the runway after the expansion.  Moreover, passenger traffic will increase with the launch of international operations. Many NRIs belonging to capital region and neighbouring districts of West Godavari and Prakasam can use the airport for arrivals and departures.

Passenger traffic has crossed 7.50 lakh per year and would increase further in future if the international services are launched. Haj pilgrims of Andhra Pradesh are also exerting pressure on the state government to convince the Central government to launch Air India flights from Vijayawada Airport to Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, for annual Haj pilgrimage. Direct flights to Mecca will be very useful to a large number of Muslims living in coastal districts and Rayalaseema region.

                                                                                                                                                            Written by Evita Lopes