Andhra CM Chandrababu Naidu opposes proposed military constraints.

Andhra Pradesh chief minister Chandrababu Naidu has strongly opposed the proposed military restrictions on the civil aircraft movements at Visakhapatnam airport, which is part of INS Dega, the headquarters of Eastern Naval Command of the Indian Navy.

In a letter to the union defence minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Wednesday, Naidu said the military restrictions on civil aircraft movements would adversely affect the economy and tourism of Andhra Pradesh.

The President of Telugu Desam Party (TDP), which had pulled out of BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government at the centre in March, has sought to defer the restrictions till the state built the Greenfield airport at Bhogapuram. Andhra Pradesh had reported significant growth in passenger air traffic over the last four years at a compound annual growth rate of 33% at 4.1 million by FY2018 from 1.3 million in FY2014. As against this, Visakhapatnam airport, the only operational International airport in Andhra Pradesh, handled nearly 60% of the state’s passenger air traffic, with about 2.5 million passengers in FY2018.


Several restrictions are learnt to have been proposed on the civil aircraft movements at the Visakhapatnam airport at the military-civil coordination meeting held on May 2 at INS Dega. The military has proposed to reserve slots between 9:30-12:30 hours and 15:00-17:00 hours from Monday till Friday, night movements between 19:00-21:00 hours on Tuesdays and Thursdays, apart from maintenance slots between 9:30-11:30 hours on Saturdays and Sundays.

This, Naidu said, would affect the winter schedule for several airlines, which would commence from November. “If the proposed restrictions are implemented, it shall have an effect of about 5-7 hours delay on weekdays including peak traffic period in the evening,” said Naidu, adding that “The proposed restriction is envisaged to have severe impact on the civil air traffic in Visakhapatnam along with economy and tourism in the state.”

The CM, in his letter to the union defence minister, aired concerns that the scheduled airline operators may be forced to reduce number of aircraft movements at Visakhapatnam airport, which may “result in reduced number of flight options to the business travellers and passengers and also the number of tourist footfalls in the region”.

Naidu said Andhra Pradesh was planning to develop a Greenfield International Airport at Bhogapuram, some 45 kilometres from Visakhapatnam airport, over 2,500 acres involving ?2,300 crore. He appealed not to impose any restrictions on the civil air traffic at Vizag airport till Bhogapuram airport was built.