Visakhapatnam International Airport witnessed a 10.19% growth in passenger traffic during the financial year 2023-24 compared to the previous fiscal year 2022-23. Despite a temporary decline in passenger footfalls from December 2023 to March 2024 due to runway resurfacing work, the airport handled a total of 2,784,428 passengers during the fiscal year 2023-24, marking an increase of 285,974 passengers compared to the previous year’s 2,500,654 passengers. However, it’s noted that the growth would have been even higher if not for the night closure of the airport to facilitate the resurfacing work.

The periodic resurfacing of the runway is crucial for ensuring passenger safety. Fortunately, the Navy completed the work ahead of schedule, enabling the airport to resume operations round the clock from April 1 of this year.

There was a noticeable decline in domestic passenger traffic in December, January, February, and March 2024, while international passenger numbers decreased in December, January, and February but showed an increase in March 2024.

K. Kumar Raja, the President of the AP Air Travellers Association, along with Vice Presidents O. Naresh Kumar and D.S. Varma, expressed satisfaction at the interest shown by new international and domestic airline operators in launching services from Visakhapatnam. Notably, a new flight commenced operations from Visakhapatnam to Bangkok starting from April 9, with another flight to Malaysia scheduled to begin operations from April 26.