VISAKHAPATNAM: For security reasons and practice sessions by the Navy air fighter brigade, Eastern Naval Command (ENC) will impose restrictions on the passenger flights at the Visakhapatnam Airport where the ENC’s INS Dega airbase also operates its flights.
As there is a clash between these two systems, ENC authorities informed the proposed restrictions to the Vizag Airport authorities and asked the latter to reschedule their passenger flights to avoid clash with the Naval operations from November 1, 2018 till further orders.
Since beginning, the Vizag Airport comes under the supervision of the ENC and the INS Dega airbase is situated in the same area and both the Navy and civilian flights use the same runway. As the schedule of air traffic control time slots are changed twice a year - summer and winter seasons - ENC authorities suggested that the Vizag Airport authorities change their passenger flight timings from November 1.
Tourist flow to be affected
At present, the Vizag Airport has around 25.5 lakh passenger flow a year and it is increasing rapidly in the Happening City. It is also the ninth biggest airport in the country. Around 31- 32 flights are operated daily by five airlines like SpiceJet, IndiGo, JetAirways, AirAsia and Air India. All these airlines have to change their flight timings as per the Navy operations which will affect the tourist flow to a certain extent.