By IANS
Hyderabad : With a new 10,500-feet runway becoming operational at Visakhapatnam airport, the first Airbus A 320 landed Tuesday in the coastal city.
Air Deccan is operating the aircraft on the Hyderabad-Visakhapatnam-Kolkata route. With this, the private airliner has provided air connectivity to Kolkata from Visakhapatnam, also known as Vizag.
So far only Boeing 737s, Dorniers, ATRs were flying to Vizag. The landing of wide-bodied aircraft has become possible with the opening of the new runway last month.
State-owned Indian also plans to replace Boeing 737 with A 320 on the Visakhapatnam-Mumbai route from this week. Indian plans to operate direct flights to Mumbai instead of the present Visakhapatnam-Hyderabad-Mumbai route, thereby significantly reducing the travel time.
The introduction of 145-seater A 320 will benefit passengers on business and tourist trips to the second biggest city in Andhra Pradesh, about 600 km from the state capital.
The passengers hoped that this would pave the way for introduction of international flights to the city, which is emerging as an industrial and tourism hub.
The city, which is the headquarters of Eastern Naval Command and known for state-owned Visakhapatnam Steel Plant, is emerging as a major industrial centre with many industries setting up their units. It is also emerging as the next IT hub with several firms including HSBC and Satyam setting up their operations.
Presently about 60 flights are being operated every week to Vizag on Hyderabad, Kolkata, Chennai, Mumbai and Delhi routes.
The airport, which is controlled by Indian Navy, will soon have Instrument Landing System (ILS) and night landing facilities. Efforts are being made to secure permission from the navy to operate flights during night.
The navy officials said the new runway would become fully operational in phases. It recently extended the day landing time by two hours. The flights can now land till 5 p.m. instead of 3 p.m.
The authorities hoped that the new runway would address the problem of flooding during rains as the height of the runway has increased by one metre than that of the old runway that was only 6,000 feet long. The all-weather runway is also expected to overcome the problem of frequent disruptions.
The aviation authorities hope that the expansion and modernisation would not only improve connectivity to domestic destinations but would also connect the city to international destinations, especially in East Asia. According to them the city has the potential to emerge as the gateway to East Asia because of its strategic location.
At present, Malaysian Airlines, Silk Air of Singapore along with Indian are operating international services between Hyderabad and Singapore and other destinations in the southeast.