# Vizag flights shift to Bhogapuram as Alluri Sitarama Raju Airport opens 2026-08-17T08:41:37+00:00 | Governance | Indian Opinion Desk Corroboration: 2 independent outlets Visakhapatnam Airport ended scheduled commercial flights on 16 August 2026, with all operations moving to the new Alluri Sitarama Raju International Airport in Bhogapuram, Andhra Pradesh. The last departure was an IndiGo flight to Delhi at 10:45 pm. The IATA code VTZ was transferred to Bhogapuram from 12:01 am on 17 August. Commercial flights at the new airport began on 17 August with an IndiGo arrival from Hyderabad and an Air India Express flight from Bengaluru. Union Civil Aviation Minister Kinjarapu Ram Mohan Naidu flagged off the first flight and handed boarding passes to passengers. Livemint reports the airport will now handle general aviation for private flights. The Hindu Businessline adds that the airport, built and operated by GMR Visakhapatnam International Airport Limited, handled 52 air traffic movements on its first day. Services include international flights to Abu Dhabi and Singapore. Designed for 6 million passengers per year initially, it has a 3,800-metre runway for wide-body aircraft. The old airport, originally a WWII airstrip and later INS Dega, suffered cyclone damage in 2014, prompting the shift. ## Coverage - livemint.com - thehindubusinessline.com This story was synthesised by AI from the 2 sources linked above. Updated: this story now draws on 2 sources. Last updated 2026-08-17T12:31:01+00:00. Tags: Airports Authority of India, Alluri Sitarama Raju International Airport, Andhra Pradesh, IndiGo, Kinjarapu Ram Mohan Naidu, Visakhapatnam Airport Canonical: https://indianopinion.org/visakhapatnam-airport-halts-flights-bhogapuram-takes-over/ License: Summary and commentary (c) Indian Opinion, reusable with attribution. Facts belong to the linked sources. Cite: https://indianopinion.org/visakhapatnam-airport-halts-flights-bhogapuram-takes-over/#story-in-brief How this brief was made: an AI model read the reports linked above and wrote this summary and analysis, which were published automatically. Published briefs are sampled every hour by an automated quality check; the editor verifies its findings and approves corrections, and corrected briefs carry a dated correction line. Stance labels are editorial classifications of how each outlet framed this story, assigned by the same model, not ratings of the outlets. We do no original reporting. Methodology: https://indianopinion.org/ai-use-policy/