Silk Air, a Singapore based Airline, has agreed to extend its cut-off date for the written commitment on extension of watch hours by Airports Authority of India for one month more. The cut-off date earlier was July 31.

Silk Air team had conducted a field study a few months back and expressed its interest in operating a direct flight from Vizag to Singapore after discussions with local trade organizations and air travellers associations in Vizag. It had sought a commitment from the AAI on the extension of airport watch hours which is controlled by the Eastern Naval Command (ENC).

Silk Air wanted to operate flight after 10 pm at the Vizag airport, which is open only till 8 pm. The launch of the service is scheduled to begin on October 1. Silk Air had requested the commitment by AAI by July 31 to give a 2 months time period for publicity as per a report in ET.

While the ENC expressed helplessness to extend watch hours due to manpower shortage, Parliamentary standing committee on environment T. Subbarami Reddy, local MP and union minister of state for HRD, D Purandeswari, infrastructure minister Ganta Srini-vasa Rao lobbied hard with the Union finance ministry, to sanction an additional 600 new personnel to operate Vizag airport round-the-clock. But there was no word from the finance department.

In a last ditch attempt, local district officials had tried to convince the Silk Air officials on extension of the cut-off date and were successful.

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