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Andhra’s judicial capital Kurnool gets air connectivity, flights to ply from March 28
The airport, which is owned by the Andhra Pradesh Airports Development Corporation Ltd (APADC) got the aerodrome licence from the Director General of Civil Aviation on January 15 this year. The Bureau of Civil Aviation Security (BCAS) gave the security clearance to the airport on January 27 for commencement of scheduled aircraft operations.
Kurnool, the proposed judicial capital of Andhra Pradesh, joined the list of cities with air connectivity on Thursday with chief minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy formally inaugurating the greenfield airport at Orvakallu on the outskirts of the city.
“This is the sixth civilian airport in Andhra Pradesh, the other five being in Visakhapatnam, Rajahmundry, Vijayawada, Tirupati and Kadapa. The commercial operation of passenger flights will begin from March 28,” the chief minister said, addressing a gathering after the inauguration of the airport.
The first commercial flight of IndiGo from Bengaluru will land at Kurnool airport at 10 am on March 28. “Initially, flights would be operated to four destinations – Visakhapatnam, Chennai and Bengaluru,” he said.
The airport, which is owned by the Andhra Pradesh Airports Development Corporation Ltd (APADC) got the aerodrome licence from the Director General of Civil Aviation on January 15 this year. The Bureau of Civil Aviation Security (BCAS) gave the security clearance to the airport on January 27 for the commencement of scheduled aircraft operations after final security vetting.
Christening the airport after Uyyalavada Narasimha Reddy, a palegar (a feudal landlord) from this area who fought against British oppression in 1840s, the chief minister said the airport would provide a place for the judicial capital on the national airways map along with other major airports of the country.
He said the APADC had spent over ₹110 crore to construct all the facilities including the passenger terminal building, five-storeyed air traffic control, administrative building, police barracks, passenger lounge, VIP lounge and other work on war-footing in the last two years.
Jagan complimented the authorities concerned for obtaining all licences and permissions for the Kurnool airport to make it ready for commercial operation of flights in record time.
The Kurnool airport was constructed on 1008 acres of land with a runway length of 2 km which could be expandable to 3.1 km in future. There are two taxi ways and four parking stands for the parking of four aircrafts simultaneously.
State industries minister M Gautam Reddy and several other leaders and officials attended the inauguration of the airport.
