Summary: If you wish to explore the city of Vijayawada and its attractions and use flight transportation from any other country, you will have to use domestic flights from the international airport in the state to reach Vijayawada by air.
Vijayawada Airport is a domestic airport meant for public use and it is located at a distance of about 18 kms, North East Route from the main city of Vijayawada. The airport is rightly standing on the National Highway 5 that connects Chennai and Kolkata cities. It is located in a place called Gannavaram and it is actually serving the cities within the state of Andhra Pradesh and even it operates domestic flights for the neighbouring states as well.
Latest improvements:
When talking about the latest improvement in the airport, the runway was extended to 7500 feet. This was done with a view to permit bigger aircrafts to land and departure. After the announcement of the city of Vijayawada as one among the two capital cities of the state of Andhra Pradesh, with the anticipation of more traffic, the Airport Authority of India is presently making many infrastructural changes and developments to the Vijayawada airport.
AAI has plans to develop additional check-in counters and they also have announced their plans for developing a lounge for passengers. It is also expected that the VIP lounge will be expanded and to ensure smooth backend operations, more space will be allocated as per the plans of AAI.
History of the airport:
During the World War II, the airfield in this airport actually acted as the army base. Then, it was converted as airport for public use. In the year 2003 on the month of September, the Air Deccan launched an everyday service between Vijayawada and Hyderabad. Until 2011, the Kingfisher Airlines was operating only a couple flights a day. But, in the year 2011, some improvements were made as Air India and private service providers like Jet Airways and Spicejet unveiled direct flights from Vijayawada.
In October 2013, the airline called Air Costa began its operations with Vijayawada as the operational hub and the maintenance hub being the airport in Chennai. TruJet is also expected to launch some charter services shortly.
Domestic flight operators:
From Vijayawada Airport, presently flights are being operated to different cities in India like those mentioned below:
- Air Costa operates domestic flights to cities like Coimbatore and Chennai in Tamil Nadu, Bangalore in Karnataka and Hyderabad as well.
- Air India operates flights to Delhi, Hyderabad and Visakhapatnam
- SpiceJet sends flights to Chennai, Bangalore and Hyderabad
- Truejet operates flights to Hyderabad and Tirupati
Other airports in vicinity to Vijayawada Airport:
- Visakhapatnam International Airport
- Tirupati Airport
- Rajahmundry Airport
Facilities available at the airport:
Baggage Service: There are Baggage X-ray scanners both at the entry and exit gate of the airport and there is a fundamental baggage service with free trolleys, trolleys for physically challenged people and also there are baggage conveyors.
Place to shop and eat: Even though, there are places to eat foods and snacks in the form of snack bar, there are no shopping facilities within the airport, but the shopping facility is available outside the premises.
How to reach the city from the airport?
Through bus: There is shuttle service operated from the airport to the Airport bus stand, which is located at a distance of about 2.2 km from the airport. From the bus stand, it will be possible to take city buses to reach Vijayawada city.
Railway station: The train service is well-connected from Vijayawada railway station to other cities in the state. From the airport, one can take taxi service to get to the railway station that is located at around 22.4 kms.
Gannavaram Airport Contact Details:
Address: Airport Director, Airports Authority of India, Vijayawada Airport, Gannavaram-521102, Krishna District (AP)
Telephone: 91-8676-252729
Fax: 91-8676-254757
E-Mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
