Vijayawada airport registers decline in passengers

Vijayawada: In contrast to the claims made by Airport Authority, Vijayawada airport is experiencing decline in the passenger traffic.

One aircraft operator has reportedly expressed their helplessness in running the flights due to last-minute cancellations, and other operational hazards. Worried with these developments, the AAI has plunged into action for damage control and the CMO also wrote a letter to the ministry of civil aviation to address the issue on priority basis.

The Vijayawada airport, anticipating huge passenger traffic in the days to come, faces a major hindrance in mobilising facilities for the rate of increase in the cargo traffic, apart from passenger traffic.

While major airports located on the coastal lines like Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai and Cochin airports are able to handle comfortable cargo, Vijayawada has not yet started the cargo operations.

Despite several representations from various commercial houses, the AAI has so far not created cargo facilities at Vijayawada, resulting in the diversion of cargo traffic to other airports.

Though AP Chamber of Commerce and Industry and Federa-tion (APCCIF) is confident about the possibility of creating cargo facility by the AAI within a couple of months, no such move is there from the ministry of civil aviation.

Speaking about the fluctuations and decline in the passenger traffic, the Air Costa Aviation vice-president (Marketing) Kavi Chaurasia said that in general, the passenger traffic is not encouraging.

“We operate 112-seater flights twice a day from Vijayawada to Bengal-uru, and it is becoming very difficult to get the complete occupancy,” Mr Chaurasia explai-ned, and added that when they have their first flight to Visakha-patnam, the flight took of with only one passenger.

Even another major operator in South India, which operates from Vijayawada is also facing the same problem. The Indian Airlines which operates smaller aircraft of 40-seater  capacity is no way different from the other operators.

Sharing his observations on it, APCCIF general secretary Potluri Bhaskar Rao said that they have been exerting pressure over the state and Union governments to peruse the cargo issue on top priority basis, keeping in view the huge increase in the passenger traffic to the new capital.

Airport director G. Madhusudan Rao said that passenger traffic is encouraging except to Kadapa. “Sometimes, aircraft crew strength is more than the passengers who boarded the Kadapa flights,” the director added.