Night flights from Visakhapatnam Airport to be suspended for four months

NIght flights from Andhra Pradesh's Vishakhapatnam International Airport, which is controlled by the Indian Navy, will be suspended for four months to facilitate resurfacing of the runway. The resurfacing of Airport will start from November 15 and will continue till end of March 24. During this period, the night flight operations will remain suspended, Navy Headquarters to Airport Director, Vishakhapatnam informed.

The closure of the airport for 11 hours every day, from 9 pm to 8 am, will affect 12 domestic flights with 30 to and fro operations to destinations like Delhi, Hyderabad, Pune, Kolkata, and Bangalore and one international flight to Singapore, as told by the authorities. The Airport Director of Vishakhapatnam has sought for a reduction of the closing time from 10.30 pm to 7 am to minimise the inconvenience to passengers. The negotiation on time frame is underway with the Navy headquarters but no decision no time reduction has been taken yet.

According to the sources within Airports Authority of India (AAI), the Air Traffic Control of Vishakhapatnam International Airport comes under Indian Navy and AAI looks after the civil operations. AAI has urged the airlines to reschedule or relocate the destinations if the arrival is during 8 pm to 8 am. The airlines have expressed that it will cost a huge loss to the companies as the flights are already booked till November. They have also stated that, in case of the international flight for Singapore, the whole slot till December is already booked as it is the peak season. During winters, tourists visit the port city and nearby locations like Yarada Beach, Katiki Waterfalls, Araku Valley, Kailasagiri, Borra Caves, Submarine Museum, Indira Gandhi Zoological Park, VUDA Park, Simhachalam Temple, Rishikonda Beachand. Tickets for these locations are usually booked much in advance owing to the high prices, airline companies mentioned.

"Resurfacing is important for smooth take off of the flights and the last resurfacing was done in 2009. Resurfacing is done every 10 years and Vishakhapatnam Airport's resurfacing was due because of COVID pandemic and other reasons," sources within Airports Authority of India informed.

"All the airlines operating from Vishakhapatnam Airport have been informed. Now, it's up to them to look into the issue. The operations will remain suspended in the night hours; so, they have to accommodate accordingly," it added.

"The suspension of night flights will heavily impact our business plus now the airline has to look into how to accommodate the passengers who have already booked the flights. From Delhi, Hyderabad and Bangalore, majorly the operations are during the night hours. Now that it has been communicated to us, we will perhaps speak to the higher authorities and chalk out the solution," one of the airline operator official told Republic.