Vijayawada airport gets nod for runway extension

July 20, 2017: A committee under the Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change gave green signal for the extension of runway at the Vijayawada airport in Andhra Pradesh in order to meet the current demand and facilitate landing and take off of bigger aircrafts.

According to a proposal submitted by the Airport Authority of India, the existing airport is currently handling about 20 landings and 20 take-offs per day and operating capacity of the airport is about 300 passengers. The airport currently handles 3.60 lakh passengers per annum and will have a capacity of 7.50 lakh, post expansion. The additional facilities such as passenger terminal building will be developed within the existing airport complex. The expansion is estimated to cost around Rs 145 crore.

The Vijayawada airport (at Gannavaram) has been witnessing steady growth after the bifurcation of the state in June 2014 and location of the capital city of Amaravati near Vijayawada. With entire capital city related air traffic depending on Vijayawada airport, it is proposed to expand it.

In a bid to meet the growing demands of the traffic and to facilitate bigger aircrafts like B-777, B747 type of aircrafts at Vijayawada airport, the runway is proposed to be extended from the existing 2.286 km to 3.360 km, as per the AAI proposal.