Bhogapuram airport to start commercial flight service from Aug 17: GMR

BHOGAPURAM (ANDRA PRADESH): The newly inaugurated Alluri Sitarama Raju International Airport here, near Visakhapatnam will start operating commercial flights from August 17 with an initial annual passenger capacity of six million, the GMR group said on Saturday.

The facility in Andhra Pradesh's Bhogapuram is the second greenfield airport in the country that will start operations this year after Uttar Pradesh's Jewar airport, which commenced flight operations on June 15. Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated the airport here on Saturday.

GMR group, in a release, said the airport has been completed several months ahead of schedule. Initially, the annual passenger handling capacity will be six million and this will be scaled up to 40 million.

Spread over 2,200 acres, the Bhogapuram airport has been developed by GMR Visakhapatnam International Airport Ltd (GVIAL) under the Public-Private Partnership (PPP) model using Design, Build, Finance, Operate and Transfer (DBFOT) framework.

The integrated project spans 2,703.26 acres---the airport over 2,203.32 acres, an aviation hub on 500 acres, aviation university and EduCity on 136.63 acres, including comprehensive airside infrastructure, commercial development, residential zones and approach roads.

GMR Airports Ltd, part of GMR group, already operates six airports and has now developed three greenfield airports at Hyderabad, Goa and Bhogapuram.

"We are confident that the airport will emerge as a major gateway for India's eastern corridor, driving investment, employment and regional prosperity for decades to come," GMR Airports Ltd Business Chairman G B S Raju.