Visakhapatnam gets direct flight to Kuala Lumpur
Will take off from April 26; this will be the third international flight from the city
Visakhapatnam: International connectivity from Visakhapatnam is further getting strengthened as AirAsia is all set to launch a direct flight between Visakhapatnam and Kuala Lumpur from April 26.
Booking for the service being made from past few days has been evoking an encouraging response, travel industry sources said. This will be the third international flight from the City of Destiny.
AirAsia had introduced a direct flight to Bangkok on April 9. Scoot, a subsidiary of Singapore Airlines, revived its service to Singapore from the city immediately after the end of the pandemic.
Airport officials said they are gearing up to launch Inline Baggage Screening after getting approval from Bureau of Civil Aviation Security by June and DigiYatra sometime in May.
Facial recognition becomes the boarding pass once the travellers download the app and furnish the required information. DigiYatra gives a “walk in the park” experience at all airport checkpoints from entry to the boarding gates.
“We are very happy with increasing footfall of passengers from the city notwithstanding the disruption caused during runway resurfacing work undertaken by the Navy from December, 2023 till March, 2024,” Andhra Pradesh Air Travellers’ Association (APATA) president K K Kumara Raja, vice-presidents D S Varma and O Naresh Kumar, said.
The headquarters of Eastern Naval Command won appreciation from various quarters for completing the resurfacing work ahead of schedule and making Visakhapatnam International Airport operational round the clock from April 1.
Tours and Travels Association of Andhra (TTAA) president K Vijay Mohan and secretary Padi Srinivas Kumar said Air India Express is in talks to start a direct flight to Dubai from Visakhapatnam. Once it takes off, it will further provide easy connectivity to travellers to the United States and the European Union countries from North Andhra and South Odisha.
Despite the disruption caused to the operation of flights during nights due to curbs imposed for resurfacing work, the airport recorded a footfall of 27.84 lakh during 2023-24 accounting for an increase by 10.19 per cent over the previous year.
