Commercial aircraft lands at Bhogapuram airport for its first test flight

Andhra Pradesh, Vizianagaram, 26/01/04. Air India’s first test flight successfully landed at Bhogapuram International Airport near Visakhapatnam. Special arrangement | Photo credit: The Hindu

Civil Aviation Minister Kinjarapu Rammohan Naidu arrived at the airport on an Air India flight from Delhi as part of the first dry run. The airport, which is being built by GMR Group, is expected to be fully operational by June 2026.

Civil Aviation Minister K.Rammohan Naidu gestures after the successful landing of the first flight at the Bhogapuram International Airport near Visakhapatnam on Sunday. Scheme | Photo credit: The Hindu

GMR Visakhapatnam International Airport Limited (GVIAL), a subsidiary of GMR Airports Limited (GAL), is developing the airport. The government has purchased 2,200 hectares of land to build the airport, which is expected to handle 4.5 million passengers annually. The airport is included in the Public Private Partnership (PPP) model based on Design, Build, Finance, Operate and Transfer (DBFOT) and is located 45 kilometers away from Visakhapatnam.

“Congratulations to the people of Andhra Pradesh, especially Uttarandhra, on the successful validation flight from the Bhogapuram Greenfield International Airport. Today marks another milestone for aviation in the state, strengthening regional connectivity and providing a major boost to Uttarandhra as the region prepares to take off,” Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu said in a post on ‘X’ (formerly Twitter) on Sunday.

“The airport, planned and initiated during the tenure of the NDA government between 2014 and 2019, will be ready to serve our people with commercial flight operations from June,” he said.

Published on January 4, 2026