Andaman airport to have night landing facility within six months

Port Blair: The international airport in Port Blair is likely to be equipped with night landing facility in six months with the Andaman and Nicobar administration taking steps to improve infrastructure.

Briefing a delegation of journalists here, Lt Gen (retd) Ajay Kumar Singh said, "Though we have an international airport here, we don't have any international flight landing presently. So, we intend to improve the infrastructure and try to get some of these 96 flights land here. So, night landings in Andaman are possible within six months.

Observing that there were over 96 flights passing over the Andaman Islands, he said, "We are in the process of expanding the airport infrastructure. We are talking with the Civil Aviation Ministry for another airport. The foundation stone for that will be laid soon, he said.

Currently, few airliners fly to the Andamans from the mainland and they do not fly in the nights, as the Veer Savarkar International Airport at Port Blair does not have the necessary infrastructure.

The scenic Island had received over 2,50,000 tourists last year and the administration hoped to increase the number by furthering infrastructure.

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Charting out his plan to focus on tourism and infrastructure in the Islands, Singh said the administration was taking efforts to set up a government arts and science university and a medical college in Port Blair for the youth.

"We have already advertised for an advisor who will put in place the medical university to be functional from 2015.

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It will function from temporary premises initially and later will be moved to its own land," the Lt Governor said.