The much awaited Bhogapuram International Airport near Visakhapatnam is now set to open on August 1, with Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu confirming that Prime Minister Narendra Modi will inaugurate the facility on that date. The announcement puts to rest weeks of speculation over the airport's opening, which had earlier been pencilled in for dates ranging from late June to late July. 
The Greenfield International Airport was proposed by the Andhra Pradesh government to be developed at Bhogapuram mandal in Vizianagaram district, on a public-private partnership basis. The concession agreement for the project was signed with GMR Visakhapatnam International Airport Limited (GVIAL), a GMR Group subsidiary, and the state government entered into a State Support Agreement on December 2, 2021. The airport is being built on 2,203 acres, of which nearly all the required land has already been acquired, with an additional 500 acres handed over more recently for allied facilities. The project has an estimated cost of INR 4,592 crore. 
Officially named the Alluri Sitarama Raju International Airport, the facility recently achieved a significant milestone when Union Civil Aviation Minister Kinjarapu Rammohan Naidu handed over its aerodrome licence to GMR Airports representatives in New Delhi. This followed the airport's first commercial validation flight, an Air India Airbus A320 that flew in from New Delhi and landed on the airport's 3.8-kilometre runway, among the longest in the country. The minister, along with Vizianagaram MP Kalisetti Appala Naidu and senior officials from the Airports Authority of India and the Directorate General of Civil Aviation, was on board that flight, which was intended to test runway readiness, navigation systems and overall operational preparedness ahead of regular commercial services. 
Officials have said that all statutory clearances, inspections and operational tests required for commercial operations have now been completed. The airport's terminal, spread across roughly 78,000 square metres and designed to evoke the silhouette of a flying fish, has been built to handle up to 40 million passengers annually in its final phase, with capacity planned in stages of 6 million passengers in Phase I, 12 million in Phase II and 18 million in Phase III. Union Aviation Minister Rammohan Naidu had earlier said the airport was awaiting only a confirmed date from the Prime Minister's office before formal inauguration could proceed. 
Government records show that INR 795 crore has been spent on land procurement and rehabilitation and resettlement activities connected to the project, while INR 82.11 crore has been paid to landholders in villages surrounding Bhogapuram between 2015-16 and the present. The estimated cost for Phase I of the project stands at INR 2,302.51 crore. Separately, the Andhra Pradesh government has entered into a memorandum of understanding with the Airports Authority of India for the use of land at the Civil Enclave at the Indian Naval Air Station INS Dega in Visakhapatnam, and a No Objection Certificate has been issued for the closure of scheduled commercial operations at the existing Visakhapatnam airport for 30 years once operations begin at Bhogapuram. 
To improve access to the new airport, the state government has proposed a 6/8-lane expressway connecting the city to the Bheemili beach corridor, and has separately revived the long-pending Beach Corridor project linking Visakhapatnam city to Bhogapuram, expected to cut travel time to around 45 minutes once complete. Several other road-widening and connectivity works are also underway to support the airport's opening. 
With the aerodrome licence issued, statutory clearances in place and a validation flight already completed, the Bhogapuram airport appears to be in its final stretch of preparation ahead of the August 1 inauguration. The scale of investment in land, rehabilitation and connectivity infrastructure surrounding the project points to its intended role as more than just an aviation facility, positioning it as a driver of trade, tourism and economic activity across North Andhra. Once operational, attention will likely shift to how quickly airlines relocate services from the existing Visakhapatnam airport and how the region's connectivity infrastructure keeps pace with the new hub's capacity. 
Source: Govt of AP