State govt allots 16.56 acres to Tirupati Airport

Tirupati: Paving the way for expansion of the Tirupati International Airport, the state government has issued orders giving advance possession of lands to an extent of 16.56 acres in favour of Airport Director. The state cabinet has approved the proposal in its last meeting and the GO was issued on Wednesday. These land is in Kothapalem village of Renigunta mandal.

The airport extension works have been pending for long due to land acquisition. The foundation stone for extension works was laid by the Vice President of India M Venkaiah Naidu on February 20 this year. It was proposed to extend the runway from the existing 2,285 metres to 3,810 metres.

Now, with the clearance of 16.56 acres, about 14 acres are still have to be allocated to the Airport. To get permissions from Director General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) the lands should be free from encumbrances.

AAI has already built the terminal building in the lands allotted to it along with 2,285 metres runway. Though the Airport was accorded International status in June 2017, till now no international flight was operated from here. Tirupati Chamber of Commerce President A Manjunath has said that they will write a letter to AAI to take steps to operate international flights from here.