Bhogapuram Airport starts flights with 60 lakh capacity

Commercial operations begin at Bhogapuram

Alluri Sitarama Raju International Airport at Bhogapuram began commercial operations on Monday, marking a major handover in North Andhra Pradesh’s air connectivity. The airport has been developed by GMR Group through its special purpose vehicle, GMR Visakhapatnam International Airport Ltd (GVIAL). With this start, scheduled commercial passenger operations handled at the existing Visakhapatnam airport are set to transition to the new facility. The change effectively creates a new aviation gateway for the north coastal region. The first day of commercial operations is expected to see 52 air traffic movements (ATMs). The shift mirrors earlier Indian metro transitions where older city airports shut commercial operations after new airports opened.

Visakhapatnam airport shuts scheduled commercial flights

With commercial flights moving to Bhogapuram, the Visakhapatnam airport has shut down for commercial operations. The development has been compared to Hyderabad’s Begumpet and Bengaluru’s HAL airports, which shut for commercial flights when those cities received new airports in 2008. Visakhapatnam’s existing facility has been described as a constrained civil enclave within an Indian Navy air station. The move to Bhogapuram is positioned as a way to enable more flexible growth in passenger and cargo operations. Once scheduled airlines relocate, the naval air station will stop handling scheduled airline operations. The transition is framed as a clean switch rather than a dual-airport model for the city.

Inaugural flights and ceremonial launch

Union aviation minister Rammohan Naidu ceremonially handed over boarding passes to passengers on the inaugural IndiGo and Air India Express flights. The minister also presented commemorative mementoes to mark the start of airport operations. GVIAL CEO Kanwarbir Singh Kalra said the commencement of commercial operations represents a transformational moment for North Andhra Pradesh and a new chapter in the region’s connectivity journey. The first-day flight plan, including the expected 52 ATMs, is being watched as an early indicator of operational readiness. The launch events signalled a formal start rather than a soft opening. Airlines operating the first commercial services included IndiGo and Air India Express.

Key project facts: capacity, location, and land area

The new airport has an initial capacity of 60 lakh passengers annually. It is located in Bhogapuram in Andhra Pradesh’s Vizianagaram district, around 50 km north of Visakhapatnam. The greenfield airport is spread over 2,200 acres. GMR Group has said the airport is expected to reach its designed capacity of handling six million passengers annually within the next four to five years, driven by economic growth, tourism and cargo demand in the Visakhapatnam region. Plans shared in reports also indicate capacity expansion to 40 million passengers in subsequent phases. The design intent is to scale the asset in line with demand growth after commercial operations stabilise.

Cost and timeline: multiple estimates reported

The project has been reported as a nearly Rs 5,000-crore greenfield development, while another report put the cost at Rs 5,640 crore. Separately, it has also been described as built at a cost of nearly Rs 4,727 crore, completed in 31 months. The airport was inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on August 1, 2026. Commercial operations were scheduled to begin on August 17, and the airport has now commenced those services. GMR Group has also said the airport was completed several months ahead of schedule. These figures underline the scale of investment and the speed at which the project moved from construction to operations.

PPP structure and operating company

Bhogapuram airport has been developed by GVIAL under the Public-Private Partnership (PPP) model. The framework used is the Design, Build, Finance, Operate and Transfer (DBFOT) model. This structure places responsibility for delivery and operations with the private partner, while the asset remains within a concession framework. The airport is a greenfield project, meaning it was built on a new site rather than expanding an existing airport. The PPP-DBFOT approach is a common model for large Indian infrastructure projects where long-term operations are integral to project viability.

Where Bhogapuram fits in GMR’s airport portfolio

GMR Airports Ltd said its “family” expanded with the addition of Nagpur Airport and Bhogapuram International Airport to its operating portfolio. The company said it assumed operations of Nagpur Airport on June 25. It also stated that Bhogapuram was inaugurated on August 1 and scheduled to commence commercial operations on August 17, aligning with the start of flights. GMR Airports has said it already operates six airports and described Bhogapuram as its third greenfield airport after Hyderabad and Goa. In another reference, Bhogapuram was described as becoming the fourth operational airport alongside Delhi, Hyderabad, and Goa-Mopa for GMR Airports Infrastructure Ltd, the listed entity housing airport assets. Together, the statements indicate Bhogapuram’s strategic value within the group’s operating platform.

Second greenfield airport to open in 2026

Bhogapuram is described as the second greenfield airport in India to commence operations in 2026, after Uttar Pradesh’s Jewar airport. Jewar airport commenced commercial operations on June 15. The sequencing places Bhogapuram within a broader national push for new airport capacity. The timing also matters for airline network planning, as carriers adjust schedules and ground handling arrangements for a new operating base. For the region, the start of services is designed to improve connectivity while supporting economic activity.

Market impact: what the shift changes immediately

The key immediate change is the full transition of scheduled commercial passenger operations from Visakhapatnam to Bhogapuram. For passengers, this means the effective “Vizag airport” experience moves to a facility around 50 km away. For airlines, the operational change is a new airport ecosystem, including terminal processes, slots, and ground operations. With an initial annual capacity of six million passengers and a phased plan toward 40 million, the new airport sets a higher ceiling for future traffic growth compared with the constrained civil enclave setup. The expected 52 ATMs on Day One offers a measurable starting point for early operations.

Summary table: what is confirmed from announcements

Conclusion: a clean switch to a new regional gateway

Bhogapuram’s start of commercial operations formalises the region’s transition from the Visakhapatnam civil enclave airport to a dedicated greenfield facility. The airport begins with 60 lakh annual passenger capacity, an expected 52 ATMs on Day One, and a stated plan to expand to 40 million passengers in phases. With the shift of all scheduled services, Bhogapuram becomes the primary commercial airport serving Visakhapatnam’s wider region and North Andhra Pradesh. The next milestones for stakeholders will be the pace of airline schedule ramp-up and how quickly traffic grows toward the designed six-million capacity over the coming years, as outlined by GMR Group.