Govt rejects pleas for curtailing time for Vizag airport runway resurfacing work

• Pleas for reducing night shutdown by adopting advanced tech were not considered on ‘safety’ grounds
• The decision has come as a big blow to the growing demand for introduction of more domestic flights and revival of direct international flights

Visakhapatnam: The Ministry of Defence has rejected pleas from various quarters for reducing the timeline for undertaking resurfacing of runway at Visakhapatnam International Airport and expressed its resolve to go ahead with the earlier schedule for nightime shutdown of the airport from November 15, 2023 to April 1, 2024.

The decision has triggered severe resentment among various circles. The pleas for reducing the night shutdown for flight operations by adopting advanced technologies as followed for similar works at Hyderabad and Pune airports were not considered on ‘safety’ grounds and contention that the Visakhapatnam airport’s resurfacing work was last undertaken nearly a decade ago. Visakhapatnam International Airport, a civil enclave, is located on INS Dega airbase of the Indian Navy.

The latest decision has come as a big blow to the growing demand by the stakeholders for introduction of more domestic flights to Hyderabad, Mumbai, New Delhi, Chennai, Bengaluru, Bhubaneswar, Kochi and Coimbatore and revival of direct international flights to Bangkok, Kuala Lumpur, Colombo and launching of maiden service to Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi in Vietnam.

“Many are ready for international flights but we need required support from the authorities. Shutdown for night flights for such a long period has belied our hopes,” Travel and Tour Association of Andhra president K Vijaya Mohan told Bizz Buzz.

Visakhapatnam Air Travellers’ Association vice-president O Naresh Kumar said strong will power by the authorities are required to promote investments in Andhra Pradesh in general and Visakhapatnam in particular.

Earlier, representations by VATA, Vijay Mohan, who is a member of Airport Advisory Committee, BJP State president and former Union Minister Daggubati Purandeswari, YSRCP MP MVV Satyanarayana and BJP Rajya Sabha member GVL Narasimha Rao were made to Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and Civil Aviation Minister Jyotirditya Scindia to reconsider the decision to suspend flight operations for over four months at night to undertake resurfacing the work. They also wanted curtailing the time for taking up the work to allow operation of more flights.

The rejection of the pleas has forced Scoot Airlines, which operates a direct flight from Visakhapatnam to Changi Airport, the only international flight at present from the City of Destiny, has advanced the arrival and departure. “The decision has forced many international travellers to miss connecting flights to Sydney and other destinations from Singapore,” Vijay Mohan pointed out.

Meanwhile, when GVL called on Flag Officer Commanding Chief of Eastern Naval Command Vice Admiral Rajesh Pendharkar regarding night closure of Visakhapatnam airport runway for resurfacing activities, he was informed that keeping in mind passenger safety they are going ahead with the resurfacing work from November 15 as announced earlier.

GVL had met both the Defence Minister and Defence Secretary Giridhar Aramane a month ago to seek shortening of the Visakhapatnam airport runway closure period.

During discussions with the ENC chief on Thursday, the MP enquired if the hours of closure of the runway from 9 pm to 8 AM for four months could be reduced to allow operation of more flights. The ENC Chief informed that the hours of closure announced was absolutely essential for surfacing and curing of the runway on a daily basis. Reducing this time is neither feasible nor advisable given the consideration of passenger safety, ENC chief poinwted out.

Asked why the surfacing activities in Visakhapatnam airport are taking much longer than in other defence airports, ENC Chief stated that the Visakhapatnam airfield does not have a parallel taxi track unlike other bigger airports and this makes surfacing activities more time consuming. When the MP expressed anguish that the night closure has resulted in cancelation of three flights from Visakhapatnam airlines’ schedule, the Vice-Admiral stated that there are time slots available for more flights to operate during daytime and that the ENC is prepared to deploy additional manpower in Air Traffic Control (ATC) to increase number of flights during daytime.