VIJAYAWADA: The passenger traffic at Vijayawada airport in fiscal 2019-20 is set to exceed its previous year’s figure. While 11.91 lakh persons opted to use the airport services in 2018-19, the passenger traffic till December stood at 11.20 lakh, according to Vijayawada airport director G Madhusudhana Rao.
Briefing the media about the action plan to be followed in 2020, Rao said he was confident that the passenger traffic would see a significant growth as three months were still left in the current fiscal. ‘’Since October 27, the airport has been handling the winter schedule services efficiently. Proposals for the summer schedule from April are yet to be submitted.”
“Recently, Civil Aviation Secretary Pradeep Singh Kharola assured to improve air connectivity between New Delhi and Vijayawada. Based on the demand, proposals for summer flight services to New Delhi, Varanasi and Shirdi will be submitted,” he pointed out. Madhusudhana Rao added that passengers flying Air India to Doha and Abu Dhabi from Vijayawada can now avail immigration and direct checking services at Vijayawada airport. “The passengers can purchase tickets for international operations from the Vijayawada terminal itself and guidelines in this regard will be announced shortly,” Rao said.
Commenting on direct international flights from Vijayawada, the airport director said parliamentarians and the chief secretary had written to the civil aviation secretary on increasing international flight services and an announcement in this regard was expected shortly. Apart from the operations, Rao said that security has been beefed up and around 200 police personnel, including from Special Protection Force (SPF) were thoroughly guarding the airport, which handles 3,000-3, 500 footfalls per day, he added.
Clarifying about operations of cab services from the airport, the official said based on the instructions from the Airport Authority of India (AAI), tenders will be finalised for the operators. ‘’We are planning to introduce an app-based cab booking system for the passengers. In 2018, tenders were invited and OLA quoted a single bid but withdrew before finalising the tender. Again in 2019, none of the operators participated in the bidding. A proposal has been sent to AAI on the issue and a decision will be taken following their guidelines,” Rao concluded.