Night landing at Tirupati airport by February

TIRUPATI: The much-awaited night landing facility at Tirupati airport will be ready by February.Disclosing this to newsmen here on Wednesday, Airports Authority of India (AAI) chairman Vijay Prakash Agrawal, said that works pertaining to upgrading of Tirupati airport would commence shortly.By second half of February, necessary infrastructure for night landing facility would be in place.He said an estimated budget of `360 crore has been allocated for upgrading Tirupati airport by the Centre, while the state government has to provide the necessary land required for expansion of the airport.Once the airport is upgraded, internat ional flights would be operated and services to Hong Kong, Malaysia, Singapore and USA will be offered.Those flying to these destinations need no longer go to Chennai or Hyderabad, Agarwal said.According to him, the present runway, which is 7,500 feet in length, will be extended to 10,700 feet.Necessary works pertaining to integrated terminal and other facilities would be taken up at the earliest.It was in 2008 that the Union government announced upgradation of Tirupati domestic airport at Renigunta, 14 km from the temple town of Tirupati to international airport.It was estimated that for expansion of the existing airport, 701.96 acres of land would be required.The government machinery got into the act and started the process of acquiring the land.In September 2010, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh laid the foundation stone for Tirupati international airport and in July last the state government handed over 229 acres to the Airport Authority of India (AAI).It had recently issued a GO for acquiring some more land.According to Tirupati MP Chinta Mohan, who had played a vital role in getting Tirupati upgraded to international airport, another 400 odd acres of land needs to be acquired for the airport expansion.“Necessary works are being carried out.It will take another three to four years for the international airport to function fully.As of now, five domestic air services are operating and we have requested for another 10 flight services and the authorities have responded positively,’’ he said