The Vijayawada airport is all set to launch flights to Singapore from October 25, in what is being seen as a big leap in the civil aviation sector for the bifurcated state of Andhra Pradesh. According to media reports, the Vijayawada - Singapore IndiGo flights will be available twice a week on Tuesday and Thursday,
Principal secretary (infrastructure and investments) Ajay Jain in a press release said that the flights would commence operations on October 25 and said that the state government was fully geared up to promote the development of aviation infrastructure.
It was in May last year, that the central government granted international status to the Vijayawada airport.
The decision to upgrade the status of Vijayawada airport, as per the provisions of the Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act, 2014 was taken by the Union Cabinet, whose meeting was chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
"The proposal will add to improved connectivity to the state capital," the Union Cabinet said in a statement.
"It will provide wider choice of services at competitive costs to the air travellers and give a boost to domestic/international tourism and socio-economic development of Andhra Pradesh by bringing in international passengers and cargo traffic," the statement added.
The international tag came months after state Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu inaugurated a new terminal building at the airport.
The new terminal building at the airport, also known as Gannavaram airport, had been completed at a cost of Rs 135 crore, and had thrice the capacity of its predecessor.
At the time, Naidu also demanded that the Gannavaram airport, which would be renamed the Amaravati airport, be renamed the ‘NTR Amaravati Airport.’