Visakhapatnam: The first cargo flight that was due to start operations from Visakhapatnam on February 15 could not take off on account of Navy restrictions on time slots, according to members of the Andhra Pradesh Air Travellers Association (APATA).
SpiceJet had agreed to start an exclusive cargo flight Chennai-Vizag-Kolkata following efforts by the APATA. The cargo flight was slated to carry 20 tonnes on a daily basis from mid-February 2020.
Visakhapatnam MP MVV Satyanarayana has submitted a representation to Union minister of defence Rajnath Singh on the restrictions on movement of civilian aircraft at Visakhapatnam Airport and has requested that restrictions be relaxed.
The letter stated that due to restrictions and non-availability of suitable time slots in Visakhapatnam airport, operators will opt to divert flights to other airports.
If restrictions by the Navy are imposed, the growth of the city will suffer a major setback, the letter said, adding that decline in passenger traffic will have an adverse impact on other sectors, particularly tourism, merchandise exports, sea food and pharma exports, IT sector and the hotel industry.
Further, as the city is likely to be the state executive capital, air traffic is expected to increase by over 50 per cent in the immediate short term, inclduing cargo flights, the letter said.
The letter also said that due to military slots, no additional slots are available for civilian flights between 9 am to 12 pm and 6 pm to 9 pm, which has affected the introduction of new civilian flights to and from the city.
SpiceJet had agreed to start an exclusive cargo flight Chennai-Vizag-Kolkata following efforts by the APATA. The cargo flight was slated to carry 20 tonnes on a daily basis from mid-February 2020.
Visakhapatnam MP MVV Satyanarayana has submitted a representation to Union minister of defence Rajnath Singh on the restrictions on movement of civilian aircraft at Visakhapatnam Airport and has requested that restrictions be relaxed.
The letter stated that due to restrictions and non-availability of suitable time slots in Visakhapatnam airport, operators will opt to divert flights to other airports.
If restrictions by the Navy are imposed, the growth of the city will suffer a major setback, the letter said, adding that decline in passenger traffic will have an adverse impact on other sectors, particularly tourism, merchandise exports, sea food and pharma exports, IT sector and the hotel industry.
Further, as the city is likely to be the state executive capital, air traffic is expected to increase by over 50 per cent in the immediate short term, inclduing cargo flights, the letter said.
The letter also said that due to military slots, no additional slots are available for civilian flights between 9 am to 12 pm and 6 pm to 9 pm, which has affected the introduction of new civilian flights to and from the city.
