Vizag airport to get cargo terminal soon

Visakhapatnam airport would soon have a full-fledged cargo handling terminal.

The Airports Authority of India (AAI) has agreed to set up the terminal, which will be ready in about eight months, said KS Rao, airport director, AAI.

Giving a presentation on the facilities at Vizag airport in a ‘round table on exports by air’ organised by the Air Travellers Association of India recently, he said, “We expects good quantity of foreign-bound air cargo from this place, mostly seafood, flowers, pharma, once the terminal building ready.”

As of now, only domestic cargo is allowed from the airport. Last financial year, the airport handled 1,046 tonne cargo and this year till August, this stood at 724 tonnes, registering a growth of 38 per cent compared with the corresponding period last year.

 

From March, international flight services has started from Vizag and everyday there is scope to export two tonne international cargo from here. However, due to lack of facilities like a proper cargo terminal building, customs clearing and enough staff, foreign-bound cargo was not moving from here, he said.

With Silk Air also set to begin its services from next month and two other international airlines showing interest to start operations, the scope for air cargo movement would increase, he said.

Vizag port chairman Ajaya Kallam said the airport was ready to allot 10-15 acre of land close to the airport for setting up cold storage plants exclusively for air-bound cargo.

“In future, Vizag airport will become the hub for export of seafood products, pharma and agro-based products. We are negotiating with international air cargo flight owners to operate exclusive cargo flights from the airport,” said D Varada Reddy, president, Air Travellers Association of India.