A new taxi track – N 5 – was commissioned at the Visakhapatnam International Airport here on Monday. The commissioning was jointly done by Visakhapatnam MP M.V.V. Satyanarayana and Vice-Admiral Ajendra Bahadur Singh, Flag Officer Commanding-in-Chief of the Eastern Naval Command (ENC).
The commissioning of N 5 is a milestone and will herald the much-awaited expansion of the busiest airport of the State. The construction of N 5, in addition to the existing N 3 and N 4 taxi tracks will provide additional access to the runway and enable handling of greater number of commercial aircraft, particularly during the peak hours.
Visakhapatnam West MLA P.G.V.R. Naidu, Airport Director K. Srinivasa Rao, Cmde Vishal Bishnoi, Commanding Officer, INS Dega and Airport Advisory Committee Members were present.
The Airport Director said that the construction of the N 5 taxi track and six additional parking stands was carried out as part of expansion of the airport by the Airports Authority of India (AAI) at a cost of ₹30.12 crore. With the commissioning of N 5, the aircraft movements can be increased from the existing nine to 12 movements during peak hours. The six additional parking stands would enable the AAI to facilitate night parking of aircraft at the airport, based on the requirements of airline operators.
AP Air Travellers Association (APATA) representatives Kumar Raja, O. Naresh Kumar and D.S. Varma, were among those present.
Mr. Naresh Kumar said in a statement that the passenger traffic at the airport, which was 1,15,143 in April this year, dropped to 45,726 as there was increase in cases during the second wave of COVID-19. It picked up again and increased to 64,732 in June and in July it further increased to 1,04,044 passengers.
