Bone of contention: The Visakhapatnam International Airport which shares the runway with Indian Navy's INS Dega. | Photo Credit: K_R_DEEPAK more-in The decision of the naval authorities to introduce flying slot for military aircraft at Visakhapatnam International Airport has come as a big blow to efforts to promote Brand Vizag. Curtailing movement of civilian aircraft to the city, the largest tourist destination and industrial hub in Sunrise Andhra Pradesh, has evoked strong protests by industrialists, IT entrepreneurs, star hotels and tourist operators. As heavy investment has been made at the naval airport by the successive governments for expanding the runway to facilitate landing of larger aircraft and night landing facility for 24x7 air traffic, the decision did not find any taker, while the navy has announced that their move is in larger public interest. Navy wants to dedicate the airport for military aircraft from 9.30 a.m. to 12.30 p.m. from Monday to Friday. There is no clarity when the international airport at Bhogapuram will get ready. Airport Authority of India’s bid to construct it has been rejected by the government leading to strong criticism by the Opposition parties. Movement increases Civilian movement at Visakhapatnam International Airport increased from 11,268 in 2013-14 to 19,956 in 2017-18. The airport has been modernised by acquiring land from the Visakhapatnam Port Trust after lot of lobbying by the local entrepreneurs and the businessmen. Vizagapatam Chamber Commerce and Industry says the recent decision by the Navy reorganise the timings of civilian aircraft has left some doubts. “Being a civilian enclave in a military facility, there are several players involved -- Navy, Ministry of Defence, AAI, airlines and State government. Hence many agencies are involved and the issue is more complex than usual. The State needs to work with various agencies involved to work out the optimum usage of the airstrip,” VCCI president A.V. Monish Row has told The Hindu. He has suggested tweaking the timings to reduce the impact on affected flights and increasing night landing facility and timings. AAI should enhance ground handling facility including passenger gates for movement, baggage-handling, security and waiting areas. He has also wanted exploring building another runway exclusively for naval aircraft and expediting work on Bhogapuram airport. “The Navy’s decision will impact both investments and brand of the city very badly. This will convey a message that Navy at their whims can impose restrictions anytime. Since we may take minimum four to five years to have a new airport, not many operators will prefer to operate flights from the city,” says O. Naresh Kumar, chairman of Tours and Travel Operators of Andhra. Expansion mooted He has mooted expanding the existing airport to meet future requirement and handing over Bhogapuram to Navy to facilitate a dedicated airport for military aircraft. He has felt that location of a naval airport in the centre of the city during war time is not safe and pointed out that by moving to Bhogapuram, it will help meet futuristic needs of the Navy.

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