Visakhapatnam Airport in Andhra Pradesh is set to function like Hyderabad's Begumpet Airport. After the development of Rajiv Gandhi International Airport at Shamshabad, commercial flight operations at Begumpet Airport were discontinued. The airport is now used only for private jets and the movement of VVIP aircraft, while all commercial flight operations are handled from Shamshabad Airport. A similar transition is now set to take place in Visakhapatnam. Commercial flight operations will shift to the Greenfield International Airport developed by GMR Group at Bhogapuram in Vizianagaram district. Commercial services from the new airport will commence from midnight on August 17. Prime Minister Narendra Modi is scheduled to inaugurate the airport on August 1. The Andhra Pradesh government is already making extensive arrangements for the inauguration.
The Ministry of Civil Aviation has issued a notification stating that commercial flight operations at Visakhapatnam Airport will be discontinued from midnight on August 17. From the same time, commercial services will begin from the Alluri Sitarama Raju International Airport at Bhogapuram. The notification also states that the international airport code VTZ, currently assigned to Visakhapatnam Airport, will be transferred to Bhogapuram Airport. The first phase of the Alluri Sitarama Raju International Airport has been developed at an estimated cost of around ₹4,727 crore.
The airport has been designed to handle 6 million (60 lakh) passengers annually.Passengers departing from Bhogapuram Airport will have to pay a User Development Fee (UDF) of ₹835 per passenger, while arriving domestic passengers will pay ₹355. International departing passengers will be charged ₹1,255, while international arriving passengers will pay ₹545 as UDF. These charges will be included in the airfare. The UDF charges at Bhogapuram Airport are higher than those at Hyderabad's Shamshabad Airport.