VIJAYAWADA: Members of the AP Non-Resident Telugu Society (APNRTS) has urged the Civil Aviation Ministry to permit interested private airlines to operate daily international flights in Visakhapatnam - Dubai/Sharjah and Tirupati - Kuwait routes.
In a letter to Union Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia, APNRTS President Venkat S Medapati said NRIs (non-resident Indians) and migrant workers—primarily from East and West Godavari, and Visakhapatnam districts—residing in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) have been facing difficulties while travelling to and fro UAE due to lack of a direct flight, despite having three international airports at Vizag, Tirupati and Vijayawada.
“Previously an Air India flight operated between Dubai and Visakhapatnam with one stop at Hyderabad. The said flight was running successfully with full occupancy till March 2020. Following the outbreak of the pandemic, the flight was grounded and has not been operated since. When some of the NRIs enquired with Air India-Dubai office about resumption of flight between Vizag and Dubai, they were informed that the route was not feasible due to current management policies and priorities,” Venkat explained.
Pointing out that AP is one of the major exporters of aqua products, the APNRTS president said lack of a direct flight was also hampering the interests of shrimp farmers.It may be noted that prawns and fish, cultured in West and East Godavari districts, are exported to other countries, including the UAE, every day.
“Prawns have a shelf life of three days. With no direct flight from AP, exporters are reaching out to Hyderabad for sending the aqua products to the UAE. By doing so, one valuable day is lost due to transit from the production unit in AP to the Hyderabad airport. Farmers from AP are losing out financially as prawns with less shelf life have lower demand,” he said.