Port Blair a popular holiday destination for Vizagites

Visakhapatnam: Vizagites it appears are increasingly looking at Port Blair as a holiday destination, if one goes by the air traffic between Vizag and the capital city of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands.
The bi-weekly direct flight introduced by Air India in April last year has witnessed an average footfall of more than 1,200 passengers per month from August 2015 to May 2016 (except for October 2015 for which passenger data was not available), as per the statistics provided by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA).
In fact, footfalls reached the highest on the Vizag-Port Blair flight in May 2016 with 1,592 passengers travelling to and fro on this route. Around 10,825 passengers have utilised the flight services from August 2015 to May 2016 (except October 2015).
Airline enthusiast Gunadeep Narendrapuram said, "We need daily flights from Vizag to Port Blair as the passengers on this route have been increasing." However, he said, "Not many people are aware of flights between these two cities. If more flights are launched, then we can be sure that more people from the city will head to the Andaman and Nicobar Islands for holidays."
Also, he said, "Vizag Steel Plant employees get a holiday trip to Port Blair so it can be helpful for them to reach Andaman."
"The average flight fare on the Vizag-Port Blair route is around Rs 20,000 for a round trip journey. The fare is a bit costly as compared to other routes. Also, the disadvantage of having only two direct flights is that people have to stay for two or three days in Port Blair if they want to return directly to Vizag as the service is only on Mondays and Fridays," observed an flight ticketing agent at Dwarakanagar.
On the other hand, he said, "The average flight fare from Chennai to Port Blair for a round trip journey is around Rs 8,600-Rs 9,000 and they have three daily non-stop flights on this route. So, introducing more flights on this route - even if not on a daily basis - but at least on the weekends - can attract more people from Vizag and neighbouring areas."
"It will be really great if some low-cost carriers introduce flights between Vizag and Port Blair because the existing rates are quite high," opined Preetha Dasgupta, a PSU employee in the city. She said, "If weekend flights are introduced, Andaman can become a major tourist destination for Vizagites."
Incidentally, Vizag is also connected to Port Blair by a passenger-cum-merchant vessel ship, which takes around 56 hours and runs between the two ports once in a month.