Visakhapatnam Airport

Visakhapatnam Airport INS Dega Air Station
Visakhapatnam Airport Terminal
IATA: VTZ – ICAO: VEVZ VTZ Location of airport in India
Summary
Airport type		Military/Public
Operator		Indian Navy Airports Authority of India
Serves		Visakhapatnam
Elevation AMSL		15 ft / 5 m
Coordinates		17°43′16″N 083°13′28″E
Website		www.airportsindia.org.in
Runways
Direction	Length		Surface
	ft	m
05/23	6,000	1,828.8	Asphalt
10/28	10,500	3,200	Asphalt
Statistics (Apr'10 - Mar'11)
Passenger movements			711,557
Aircraft movements			11,782
Source: AAI

Visakhapatnam Airport (IATA: VTZ, ICAO: VEVZ) is a civil international airport serving the Visakhapatnam District located 7 km (4.3 mi) from Visakhapatnam in the state of Andhra Pradesh, India. It is second busiest airport in Andhra Pradesh after Hyderabad International airport. It is controlled by the Indian Navy which carries out air traffic control as well as provides support for flying operations for both military and civil aviation. Recently, the airport has been authorized for international operations. Air India announced that they would begin the first daily international flight from Visakhapatnam to Dubai on March 25, 2012. The Airports Authority of India has confirmed that Visakhapatnam airport has significantly developed over the past 12 years with only 1 flight in 1999 to over 40 daily flights in 2011.

A new terminal building was inaugurated on 20 February 2009. Howerver, it was not operational until on 27 March 2009, when the landing of a JetLite airliner from Delhi marked the commencement of operations from the new integrated terminal building complex at the airport. The runway in use was originally 6,000 ft (1,800 m). The Indian Union Minister of State for Mines T Subbirami Reddy inaugurated the newly constructed 10,500 ft (3,200 m) and 60 m (200 ft) wide runway at the Vizag Airport on 15 June 2007. With the installation and calibration of the instrument landing system, Visakhapatnam got night landing capabilities in July 2007, with the Dornier of the Indian Navy taking off from the new landing facility. The night landing facility became operational from 30 March 2008 for commercial airlines with SpiceJet being the first airline to use the facility. A memorandum of understanding between the Airports Authority of India and Sathyabama University has been signed to bring Falcon Airlines of England to start a Flying Club and Aeronautical Institute.

History

On Jun 16, 2007, T. Subbarami Reddy, the then Union Minister announced that the Airport was fully prepared for international flights. A new and extended runway was build to land the Airbus A320 aircraft operated by Air Deccan, which is now fully owned by Kingfisher Airlines. There were appeals to make Vizag airport an International Airport ever since then. Immediately the next month, JetLite and Air Deccan started flights to Visakhapatnam. However, no other airlines except for SpiceJet and Jet Airways have operated flights to Visakhapatnam until on December 25, 2011, Union minister of state for HRD, D.Purandeswari announced that after discussions with the defence minister MM Pallam Raju and Airport Authority of India, a decision has been made, so as to begin international and intercontinental operations from Visakhapatnam Airport.

Later on January 11, 2012, the stare-run national flag carrier Air India announced that they would begin operations between Dubai and Visakhapatnam via Hyderabad from March 25, 2012. The Union government announced that more carriers like IndiGo and Air Arabia would begin operations soon. Just two days later, Air India announced that the aircraft in use can carry a maximum of 150 passengers. However, no information regarding what aircraft would be used was revealed. They announced that the first flight would depart from Visakhapatnam airport on March 25 at 06:30 PM, local time. The Congress lawmaker announced that as of now, both international and domestic flights would use the same terminal instead of two different terminals.

24-hour operations

Though a significant growth of domestic flights landing at Visakhapatnam, there have been no international flights to the region for a very long period of time. On November 18, 2011, 'The Hindu BusinessLine' reported that operating international flights required the airline operators to produced a written consent. However, the airline operators plea that the airport needs to being round-the-clock operations first. Previously, SilkAir expressed interest in the airport, however they they required an overnight slot which was nor arranged by the naval authorities resulting in the airline losing faith in the airport. Finally on January 21, 2012, The Indian navy announced that they will appoint trained professionals and gather all the equipment for round-the-clock operations at the airport which allows international flights to acquire parking lots.

Sold out in Seconds

On February 3, 2012, The director of the Airports Authority of India announced that the First international flight from Visakhapatnam Airport, Air India(AI) Flight 952 would takeoff to Dubai International Airport on March 25, 2012. The bookings were opened both on the Air India Website and also at the airports. It was announced that the inspection of the airport was done and Visakhapatnam was listed as an International Airport. Air India announced the flight numbers as AI951 (Dubai-Visakhapatnam) and AI952 (Visakhapatnam-Dubai) both via Hyderabad International Airport. The inaugural flight from Visakhapatnam was sold in seconds after the bookings started on the Air India Website. The aircraft in operation will be an Airbus A321 Jet aircraft which was originally operating on the Hyderabad-Dubai route. The flight has been extended upto Visakhapatnam to kick-start international flights from the city. The Union Civil Aviation Minister, Mr Ajit Singh announced that more steps would be taken to introduce several other 'direct' flights to international destinations across the globe. The Times of India announced that Singapore Airlines agreed on starting a direct flight from Visakhapatnam International Airport to Singapore Changi International Airport.

Airlines and destinations

Airlines	Destinations
Air India	Chennai, Delhi, Dubai [begins 25 March 2012], Hyderabad, Mumbai
IndiGo	Bhubaneshwar, Chennai, Kolkata [All begins 7 March 2012]
Jet Airways	Bangalore, Chennai, Hyderabad, Indore, Kochi, Kolkata, Mumbai
Kingfisher Airlines	Chennai, Hyderabad
SpiceJet	Bangalore, Chennai, Delhi, Hyderabad, Mumbai, Tirupati

Facilities

Air Traffic Control (ATC)

The Visakhapatnam Airport is a non-towered but it does have an air traffic control system in presence. controllers are ground-based and direct aircraft movements via radio or other communications links is observed. This coordinated oversight facilitates safety and speed in complex operations where traffic moves in all three dimensions.

Ground Control is responsible for directing all ground traffic in designated "movement areas", except the traffic on runways. This includes planes, baggage trains, snowplows, grass cutters, fuel trucks, and a wide array of other vehicles. Ground Control will instruct these vehicles on which taxiways to use, which runway they will use (in the case of planes), where they will park, and when it is safe to cross runways. When a plane is ready to takeoff it will stop short of the runway, at which point it will be turned over to Tower Control. After a plane has landed, it will depart the runway and be returned to Ground Control.

Jet bridges

Newly constructed jet bridges at the Visakhapatnam Airport's first terminal

The new terminal building of the Visakhapatnam has over 3 Jet bridges. A jet bridge is an enclosed, movable connector which extends from an airport terminal gate to an airplane, allowing passengers to board and disembark without having to go outside. Prior to the introduction of jet bridges, passengers would normally board an aircraft by walking along the ground-level ramp and climbing a set of movable stairs, or up airstairs on aircraft so equipped. Mobile staircases or "ramp stairs" are still employed at the airport particularly by low cost carriers. Loading bridges provide all-weather dry access to aircraft and enhance the security of terminal operations.

At the airport terminal, the bridge is connected to a portal (called a "gate") in the terminal wall behind the gate desk. Once airplane boarding starts, passengers hand in their boarding passes to the gate's attendant, who lets them pass through. Inside, the bridge looks much like a narrow but lighted hallway in an office building, without doors. Loading bridges usually have no windows, but glass walls are becoming more common. The walls are normally painted in accordance with airline standards, generally with relaxing colours. Some bridges have advertisements on interior or exterior walls. The cab of the loading bridge is raised and lowered in order to dock with aircraft of differing sill heights. The height of the cab is matched to the height of the aircraft door sill height. This often results in a slope along the length of the loading bridge.

Troubles

Heavy Weather

During October 2005, a mild tropical storm hit the region and poured heavy rains, causing significant flooding. the low cloud along with wind shear and heavy rain had a bad affect on the airport as flights were cancelled for over 16 days. The Meghadrigedda reservoir in the outskirts of the city overflew and flooded the airport during the storm. Finally on October 29, an Alliance Air aircraft landed in the airport confirming it ready for flights. The airport went back to normal and soon the erstwhile Air Sahara and Air Deccan started operating flights to Visakhapatnam. The lack of an ILS or an Instrument landing system is believed to be the main cause of the cancellations. An ILS is a device that automatically guides an aircraft to the foot of the runway during any weather condition, day or night.

However, the government did nothing because Vizag airport was one of the smallest and least used at that time. In early 2007, a storm hit yet again. Cyclone Yemyin swept through the area resulting in instant flooding. Air traffic was badly played with. Yemyin was a more powerful storm and rip across the coast with full force. Though not know for how many days air traffic was halted, it is certain that there was no air connectivity to the city for atleast one day. Towards the end of June, the ILS was finally introduced. Though not very much used at that time, it is an essential component of the day's airport.

Delays in introduction of International flights

Ever since 2006, SilkAir has expressed interest in starting direct flights from Visakhapatnam to Singapore Changi. But the short runway of the airport never met the minimum requirements to land the state of the art Boeing 757 airliner. A seminar was organized by the Air Passengers Association of India expressing concerns regarding the necessity of an international airport at the fast growing city. The AAI announced that a new runway was under construction and will be completed by 2007. The construction of the new terminal building was also announced at about the same time. But the first international flight was not announced until early 2012.

Paramount Airways runway overshoot

On May 12, 2007, a Paramount Airways Embraer E-170 aircraft carrying 60 passengers overshot the runway upon landing at the airport. The aircraft was operating I7 502 from Chennai Airport to Visakhapatnam via Hyderabad approached the runway on time, at 11AM (local time). The aircraft was not damaged as it was caught in a 'soft ground arrester', which kept in from sliding all the way into the National Highway 5. Airport officials claimed that the crash was caused by a pilot error in preparing the aircraft for a Landing flare. It was believed that there was a mismatch in the airspeed and attitude of the plane are adjusted for landing, causing it to touch down late and skid off the runway. However, Paramount Airways only "slightly overshot the runway after safe landing because of mud on the airstrip", which was far from a pilot error. The passengers have come up with a more controversial explanation as some of the claim that it was a very harsh landing and felt like a terrible jerk resulting in the pilot losing control of the aircraft.

External links

• Airport information for VEVZ at World Aero Data. Data current as of October 2006.