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Our Bureau

Visakhapatnam, Nov. 6 The Navy, which operates the Visakhapatnam airport, has reportedly got consent for recruitment of additional staff to man the new terminal, which is getting ready by the end of December.

The additional staff is also needed for making night-landing facilities fully operational.

The new terminal will make it possible for the authorities to handle international flights, after obtaining the necessary clearances.

At present, though night-landing facilities are in place, the authorities are able to allow flights only for eight to nine hours with the available manpower.

The present schedule of air traffic is from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. and from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. The airport remains closed during the rest of the day.

Authorities concerned have been making efforts to get the additional staff and finally, it has been cleared by the Union Ministries of Finance and Defence.

The flood protection works at the airport, scheduled to be completed by September, are also nearing completion. The Rs 70-crore project, taken up by the Irrigation and Command Area Development department, would ensure that the airport is not flooded during the rainy season.

Flooding has been one of the recurring problems at the Visakhapatnam airport.

The flooding was caused by Meghadrigedda and Kondagedda reservoirs. The project envisages digging of two channels, measuring 6.792 km and 6.8 km respectively, to divert floodwaters directly to the Bay of Bengal. The Chief Engineer of North Coast projects, Mr G. Prasada Rao, asserted that the work would be completed by December.

After a brief slump caused due to various reasons, including high fares, the number of passengers at the airport has been going up steadily.

According to authorities, the number of monthly passengers came down to a mere 42,000 a couple of months ago against the normal monthly passenger traffic of over 60,000. Now, it has crossed the 50,000 mark and the authorities are hopeful that it will cross the 60,000 mark again soon.

More Stories on : Airlines | Security | Andhra Pradesh

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