First international flight to take off from Port Blair’s Veer Savarkar International Airport on November 16, BA

The dates for the first international flight from Port Blair’s Veer Savarkar International Airport to Kuala Lumpur have been announced. Andaman Association of Tour Operators President Mohan Vinod said on Saturday that after a long wait, international flights would be started from the Port Blair airport and the first flight has been scheduled for November 16.

Speaking to ANI, Vinod said, “After a long wait, we are happy to announce that we have taken the decision to start international flights from the Port Blair airport. The first flight is of Air Asia and is scheduled for November 16. We want to thank the government and Air Asia for helping us.”

Further, he said that the tourism in Port Blair has been affected a lot due to no flights and further said that they hope that the international flights would bring in more tourists.

“The airport was inaugurated by PM Modi on June 21, 2023. Since that day, we have awaited this. Tourism has been affected because of the flights. Now that we have announced the international flights, we hope that more tourists come and tourism increases in Port Blair. We want to thank Air Asia and the people for cooperating with us,” he added.

Earlier, on April 30, the Veer Savarkar International Airport started night operations following significant upgrades and advancements. On April 18, a private airline was the first to land using the ILS at VSI Airport. The aviation infrastructure at INS Utkrosh in Port Blair has undergone significant advancements, with upgrades that allow the airport to handle both day and night operations. The modernization effort, under Project MAFI (Modernization of Airfield Infrastructure), was conceived at Naval Headquarters in New Delhi and executed under the supervision of the Andaman and Nicobar Command (ANC).