Vizag Airport to defeat Bhogapuram Airport!

While the state government is struggling to acquire the 15000 acres needed for the Greenfield Airport at Bhogapuram, there are experts in the field of aviation sector who say that such big airport is not feasible to run with the existing less number of daily flight operations. They warn the government about the possibility of very high user charges and landing charges levied even if any private developer comes forward to develop such an airport.

In such cases, even the flight operators and passengers opt for the nearest Vishakapatnam Airport where the prices will be much cheaper defeating the whole purpose of a new airport. Currently the flight landing charges in Vishakapatnam is around 12000 and Hyderabad is around One Lakh, but given the magnitude of Bhogapuram Airport, the landing charges can go up to as much as 2 Lakhs highest in Telangana and Andhra Pradesh.

Despite good number of operations, Rs 500 was levied as user charge on a domestic passenger and Rs 1,800 on an international passenger by the private developer at Shamshabad airport. The proposed airport at Bhogapuram is three times bigger than Shamshabad. Experts advise the government to expand the present airport till the number of operations are increased and then plan a Greenfield international airport.