The central government has intensified efforts to privatize the fully developed Tirupati airport by March next year. With this, a 1000 people will lose their job security directly and 500 indirectly. The government opened this airport in 1971 for Tirumala pilgrims. In 1993, the work on the new terminal and runway was started by the then Prime Minister PV Narasimha Rao.
It was upgraded in 1999 and recognized as an international airport in 2017. The Airports Authority of India has prepared the sector to hand over 13 airports in the country to the private sector by March 2026. The Union cabinet has already given the green signal for this. Tirupati Airport, which is spread over a total of 772 acres, is also included in this.
In the recent budget presentation, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said that the government will get a revenue of ten lakh crore rupees by handing over 13 airports to private companies. In this context, in the first phase, the airports in Tirupati and Bhubaneswar will be handed over to private companies. Later, the airports in Aurangabad, Raipur, Gaya, Kushinagar and Amritsar will be handed over to private companies.
Though it was upgraded as an international airport, still not a single flight is flying directly from here to foreign countries. The central government tried to hand over this airport to it in 2022. The sale was postponed due to pending development work on the terminal, runway and other areas. The 2,300-meter runway was previously there.
The Garuda terminal was located on three acres. It has now been expanded to six acres. The runway was increased to 3,200 meters, making it the largest and will be inaugurated in 2025. It is reported that the central government is ready to hand over this airport, which was developed entirely with central funds at a cost of Rs. 370 crore, to it by March next year.
Air traffic has increased at Tirupati Airport. Currently, this number has increased to 16 flights. Flights of IndiGo, Air India, SpiceJet, Star Air and Alliance Air are operating. Services are available from here to Delhi, Hyderabad, Mumbai, Bangalore, Vijayawada, Visakhapatnam, Surat, Belgaum, Goa, Kolhapur, Nagpur, and Gulbarga. Five to six thousand passengers commute daily.
