DURONTO gets delayed.
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Vizag-Dubai flight to be introduced from March 27
Staff Reporter
Visakhapatnam Airport will have international flight connectivity with the launch of Visakhapatnam-Hyderabad-Dubai-Hyderabad-Visakhapat nam by Union Minister for...
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Civil Aviation Ajit Singh on March 27. Direct flights to international destinations will spur industrial growth and contribute to the development of the city, Rajya Sabha Member T. Subbarami Reddy said at a media conference on Tuesday speaking about his efforts to develop the airport and Visakhapatnam Railway Station.
He said from a single air service in 1999, the airport today operates 40 services connecting Delhi, Kolkata, Mumbai, Chennai, Bangalore, Hyderabad, and Tirupathi. Efforts were being made to operate five more flights of SpiceJet and an equal number of flights of IndiGo Airlines, which would take the total number of services to 60. Silk Air, Air Arabia, and RAK Airlines were being persuaded to operate direct flights to Visakhapatnam.
New trains
On the Railway front, he said he had discussed on several occasions with the Chairman and the Member Traffic of the Railway Board and the Railway Minister on the need to introduce new express trains in the Railway Budget 2012. Dr. Reddy said he had succeeded in getting three of the 12 trains, being diverted via Duvvada, to Visakhapatnam.
Dr. Reddy, who is also Chairman of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Science and Technology, Environment, and Forests, said he was pursuing with the Railway Board and the Ministry for introduction of: Visakhapatnam-Chennai Superfast Weekly Express, Hyderabad-Howrah A/C via Visakhapatnam, Secunderabad-Guwahati Superfast Weekly Express via Visakhapatnam, Visakhapatnam-Mumbai LTT Weekly once a week via Raipur and Visakhapatnam-Shirdi Sai Nagar Express as a regular Weekly Express in the 2012 budget. Responding to a query, he attributed the delay in the introduction of the Visakhapatnam-Secunderabad Duranto Express to the non-availability of rake. A total of 10 new trains all over the country couldn't be launched as per schedule due to this problem. The Railway Minister has promised to accord top priority to Visakhapatnam for introduction of Duranto and in all likelihood it would be introduced by March this year, he said.
Mayor Pulusu Janardhana Rao, Air Travellers Association (India) president D. Varada Reddy, and former MLA T. Gurumurthy Reddy were present.
Direct flights to international destinations will spur industrial growth, says TSR