A historic moment was witnessed for the aviation sector of Andhra Pradesh when an aircraft made a successful landing for the first time at the new airport being built near Visakhapatnam. The project being developed by GMR Group as ‘New Visakhapatnam Airport’ has passed its first and most important test on 4 January 2026. After this successful test and validation flight, the way for commercial flights has now been cleared, which is expected to give a new impetus to the development of the sector.
The official name of the airport located 50 km from Visakhapatnam was Alluri Sitaram Raju International Airport.
This new greenfield international airport is located in Bhogapuram area of Vizianagaram district of Andhra Pradesh. Geographically it is about 50 kilometers north of Visakhapatnam city. The situation regarding the naming and operation of the project has been completely made clear. Its official name is ‘Alluri Sitarama Raju International Airport’ (Bhogapuram International Airport). The responsibility of this huge project is with GMR Visakhapatnam International Airport Limited (GVIAL), which is a subsidiary of the country’s leading infrastructure company GMR Airports Limited.
Preparation to start commercial flights from June 2026, 97 percent construction work reached final stage
The work of this airport, which is being built under the Public-Private Partnership (PPP) model on approximately 2,700 acres of land, is continuing on a war footing. It is being prepared on DBFOT (Design-Build-Finance-Operate-Transfer) basis. As per the latest update, about 97% construction has been completed by January 2026. Now only some civil and interior finishing work is left. The management has set a target that after completing all the formalities, flights for commercial i.e. common passengers will be started from here from June 26, 2026.
3,800 meter long runway for landing of wide-body aircraft and capacity for 60 lakh passengers annually
The airport infrastructure has been designed keeping future needs in mind. The runway here is approximately 3,800 meters long and 45 meters wide, which is equipped with CAT-I facility. This simply means that large and wide-body international aircraft will be able to land and take off easily here. Talking about capacity, in the first phase this airport will be able to handle approximately 6 million (60 lakh) passengers annually. A master plan is ready to increase this capacity to 18 to 40 million passengers per year in future phases.
62,500 square meter terminal will be equipped with high-end facilities, passengers will get world class facilities
The terminal building has been highly modernized to improve the passenger experience. The first passenger terminal building has an area of approximately 62,500 square meters, including the central processor, pier, airport plaza and forecourt. The terminal will have high-end amenities such as modern check-in counters, baggage scanning systems, immigration desks, luxurious lounges, duty-free retail shops, food courts and self-service kiosks. Apart from this, separate taxi and bus drop-off zones have also been planned for the convenience of passengers.
Apart from becoming a big cargo hub of North Andhra, the airport will also be able to withstand cyclonic storms.
Not only passengers, this airport will also become a center of business activities. It is being developed as a major cargo hub in North Andhra with facilities like cold storage, automated conveyors and bonded warehouses. Additionally, an MRO (Maintenance, Repair and Overhaul) facility is also being built on 25 acres in the campus. This airport is also unmatched in terms of security. Being in the coastal region, it has been specially designed to withstand cyclonic winds with a speed of about 275 kilometers per hour and heavy rains. The testing of runway and navigation system through Air India’s validation flight on January 4 has also been completely successful.