About Vijayawada Airport

Vijayawada Airport (IATA: VGA, ICAO: VOBZ) is a public domestic airport, situated at a distance of 18 kilometers from Vijayawada. The airport is located on National Highway 5 connecting Chennai to Kolkata. It is a mid-sized domestic airport serving Andhra Pradesh Capital Region. Its runway was extended to 7,500 feet in 2011, allowing for the operation of bigger aircraft. In anticipation of an increase in air traffic from Vijayawada after it was declared the capital of the Re-organised Andhra Pradesh, the Airports Authority of India (AAI) is developing and making infrastructural changes to the airport.

The airfield served as an army base during the World War II, after which it was converted into a civilian airport. Air Deccan introduced a daily service between Hyderabad and Vijayawada in September 2003. The airport, which had only two flights a day operated by Kingfisher Airlines until early 2011, saw an increase in services that year with Air India and private airlines like Spicejet and Jet Airways introducing a direct flights from Gannavaram.

Air Costa, a regional airline started operations in October 2013, with Vijayawada as its operational hub and Chennai as maintenance hub. Turbo Aviation TruJet said it will launch its services from Vijayawada by operating non-scheduled services with two charters to other parts of the southern cities.

The airport covers an area of 537 acres (217 ha) and the runway is 2,286 metres (7,500 ft) long. The airport has sixteen parking bays for ATR 72/Bombardier Q400/ Boeing 737/Airbus A320 of which 5 are exclusively for ATR72/Bombardier Q400.
To cater to the increasing passenger traffic, the foundation stone for a new terminal building was laid in October 2015. The terminal was completed in 14 months and inaugurated on 12 January 2017. The structure, built at a cost of rupees 135 Crores (19.3 million US Dollars), will act as an interim terminal before the International terminal is built.

The interim terminal and the ceremonial lounge spread over 12,999 square metres includes check-in area, arrival hall, meet and greet service staircase, aviation lounge, and baggage make up area. The lounge is spread over 3,613 square metres. The terminal can handle up to 500 passengers at any point of time and has 18 check-in counters. Recently 5 Kiosk (Self check-in Machines) are placed in Airport for Passengers.

Cargo services have started from the airport in August, 2018. Airport Wi-Fi is provided by Reliance Jio under the name JioNet.

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