Night-landing to be fully operational by next month
Permission for recruiting additional staff obtained
At present flights being operated eight to nine hours only
After a slump, number of passengers going up
VISAKHAPATNAM: Permission for recruitment of additional staff required to man the modern airport terminal with night-landing facilities at Visakhapatnam has reportedly been obtained by the Naval authorities from the Ministries of Finance and Defence.
The new terminal with the provision for landing domestic and international flights, is likely to be fully operational by December for which additional staff with required training is needed. It may be recalled that the operation of electronically controlled air traffic at the Visakhapatnam airport is with the authorities of the Navy. At present, it is possible to operate air traffic only for eight to nine hours with the available man power. The present schedule of air traffic is from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. and from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. The airport remains closed during the rest of the day. The authorities concerned have been making efforts to get sanction for the additional man power to meet the requirements at the new terminal. It has to be cleared by the Ministries of Finance and Defence.
Flood protection
The flood protection works at the airport, which were scheduled to be completed by September this year but got delayed, are also nearing completion. The Rs.70 crore work, taken up by the Irrigation and Command Area Development Department, will ensure that the airport is not flooded during rainy season. Flooding of airport during rainy season is one of the major recurring problems at the airport.
Because of this problem, flight services had been disrupted for weeks together. The flooding was caused by Meghadrigedda and Kondagedda.
The project envisages digging of two channels, measuring 6.792 km. and 6.8 km. respectively, to direct water to sea. The Chief Engineer of North Coast projects, G. Prasada Rao, has asserted that the work will be completed in all aspects by December.
Meanwhile, after a sort of slump caused due to various reasons, including high fares, the number of passengers at the airport has been going up steadily.
According to authorities, the number of monthly passengers came down to a mere 42,000 a couple of months ago against the normal monthly passenger traffic of over 60,000. Now, it has crossed the 50,000 mark and the airport authorities are hopeful that it will cross the 60,000 again very soon.