Alluri Sitarama Raju International Airport, Bhogapuram: The Complete Guide to Terminal, Runway, Capacity and Technology

Alluri Sitarama Raju International Airport (ASR International Airport, IATA: VTZ) at Bhogapuram in Vizianagaram district is Andhra Pradesh’s first international airport built after the 2014 state bifurcation. It occupies 2,203 acres, cost ₹5,640 crore, and opened with a 78,000 sq m passenger terminal and a 3,800 m Code 4E runway that takes wide-body aircraft. Phase 1 is rated for six million passengers a year; the master plan scales beyond 40 million. This page is the full reference: every verified specification, what each number actually means in practice, and what it changes for travellers.

What is Alluri Sitarama Raju International Airport?

ASR International Airport is a greenfield airport — designed and built from scratch on open land — at Bhogapuram, roughly 40 to 45 km north-east of Visakhapatnam city along the NH-16 corridor. It replaces the Visakhapatnam civil enclave at INS Dega as the region’s scheduled commercial airport from 17 August 2026, taking the IATA code VTZ with it.

The naming matters for anyone searching. Through construction it was known as Bhogapuram International Airport or the Bhogapuram greenfield airport. The Ministry of Civil Aviation renamed it Alluri Sitarama Raju International Airport by gazette notification in July 2026, after the tribal freedom fighter of Andhra Pradesh. Bhogapuram airport, ASR airport and Alluri Sitarama Raju International Airport are all the same place; the airport code is VTZ.

The two facts that define what this airport can eventually become are the runway length and the land bank. A 3,800 m runway removes the payload and range restrictions that shorter Indian runways impose on fully loaded wide-bodies, and 2,203 acres — with roughly 500 acres deliberately unbuilt — means the airport can be expanded on its own site rather than negotiating for land later.

What are the full specifications of ASR International Airport?

Every figure below is drawn from Ministry of Civil Aviation notifications and national press reporting from July 2026.

What is inside the 78,000 sq m passenger terminal?

The Phase 1 terminal at ASR International Airport is a single 78,000 square metre integrated building handling domestic and international passengers under one roof, sized for six million passengers a year. For scale, that is a footprint comparable to a large modern shopping centre.

An integrated terminal is a deliberate choice for an airport at this stage of its life. It lets the operator flex the split between domestic and international capacity as traffic mix changes — useful when international routes are still being built up — instead of locking floor area into a half-empty international pier. The design uses regional heritage motifs from north Andhra Pradesh rather than generic international-terminal styling.

What you walk through is a conventional sequence: check-in and baggage drop, security screening, immigration and customs for international passengers, retail and dining airside, then boarding. Precise counts of check-in desks, gates and lounges are the kind of detail operators finalise close to opening, so treat specific figures quoted elsewhere with caution until GVIAL publishes them.

How long is the runway, and which aircraft can it handle?

The runway is 3,800 metres long and rated Code 4E, which is among the longest in India. Code 4E is an ICAO reference code: 4 refers to runway length category, E to the wingspan and outer main-gear span of the largest aircraft the airport is designed for. In plain terms, Code 4E means wide-body jets, not just the A320s and 737s that carry most Indian domestic traffic.

Two supporting details do a lot of quiet work here. The full-length parallel taxiway means arriving aircraft clear the runway and taxi to the terminal without blocking departures, which is what allows an airport to push movements per hour up as traffic grows. And the CAT I instrument landing system, with advanced LED airfield lighting, supports approaches in reduced visibility — meaningful on a coast that gets heavy monsoon rain.

A caveat worth stating plainly: runway capability is a necessary condition for long-haul flying, not a sufficient one. Actual routes depend on airline commercial decisions, bilateral traffic rights and demand. The airport is built for wide-bodies; which wide-bodies show up, and when, is a separate question. Our guide to Bhogapuram airport flights and the VTZ code shift explains how to check what is actually scheduled.

How many passengers and how much cargo can the airport handle?

Phase 1 is rated for six million passengers a year. The master plan then steps up through 12 million and 18 million to an ultimate design capacity of more than 40 million passengers a year — a roughly sevenfold expansion, planned for from the start rather than retrofitted.

GVIAL has not published dated timelines for Phases 2 and 3, and it would be misleading to guess at them. Indian airport concessions typically tie expansion triggers to measured traffic thresholds rather than fixed calendar dates, so the honest answer is that Phase 2 arrives when passenger numbers justify it.

On the freight side, the 5,000 sq m cargo terminal is designed for roughly 25,000 metric tonnes a year. For north Andhra that is not a footnote. The pharmaceutical clusters at Pusapatirega and Pydibhimavaram sit within easy reach, and pharma is exactly the kind of high-value, time-sensitive, temperature-controlled freight that air cargo exists to serve. Seafood exports from the Visakhapatnam and Srikakulam coast are the other obvious candidate. We look at the wider economic effects in our Bhogapuram aerotropolis and jobs analysis.

What technology runs ASR International Airport?

The operational core is an AI-enabled Airport Operations Control Centre (AOCC), sometimes described as an airport operations centre or APOC. It pulls airside, terminal and landside data into one live picture so that a delayed inbound aircraft, a security queue building up and a stand reallocation are managed as one connected problem instead of three separate ones. Airports retrofit this capability at considerable expense; building it in from day one is a real advantage.

• Airside 4.0 — digital management of airside operations: stand allocation, ground handling and turnaround monitoring.
• Biometric passenger processing — face-based identity checks that replace repeated document inspection at entry, check-in, security and boarding.
• Automated baggage handling — mechanised sortation and tracking, which is what keeps mishandled-bag rates down as volumes rise.
• Building Information Modelling (BIM) — the airport was designed and delivered on a coordinated 3D model, reducing clashes and rework during construction and leaving the operator a usable digital record of the asset.

For a passenger, the visible payoff is fewer stops where someone examines your documents, and a terminal that recovers faster when something goes wrong. Biometric processing in India is normally opt-in, so carry your identity documents regardless.

How is the airport engineered for cyclones and sustainability?

The headline resilience figure: the terminal’s glass façade is engineered to withstand cyclonic winds of up to 275 kmph. On the Bay of Bengal coast this is a design requirement, not a flourish. North Andhra sits in an active cyclone track, and in a modern glass-fronted terminal the façade is the most exposed structural element — the thing that fails first and takes the building out of service longest.

Being blunt about what that does and does not mean: a 275 kmph rating protects the building. It does not mean flights operate through a severe cyclonic storm. Airports suspend operations in those conditions because aircraft, ground equipment and staff cannot work safely, not because the terminal is at risk. What the rating buys the region is a gateway that comes back into service quickly after a storm passes.

On sustainability, it is worth separating what is documented from what is often claimed. The verified elements are the BIM-led design and delivery, which cuts material waste and rework; advanced LED airfield lighting, which materially reduces airfield energy consumption against older lamp types; the phased master plan, which avoids pouring concrete years ahead of demand; and a glass façade that brings daylight deep into the terminal and reduces artificial lighting load. Specific green building certifications and carbon targets have not been published in detail, so treat precise environmental ratings you see quoted elsewhere as unconfirmed.

Who built ASR International Airport, and what did it cost?

The airport was built and is operated by GMR Visakhapatnam International Airport Limited (GVIAL), a subsidiary of GMR Group, one of India’s largest private airport operators. The structure is a public-private partnership on a DBFOT basis — design, build, finance, operate, transfer.

That acronym carries real consequences. Under DBFOT the private concessionaire raises the capital and carries the construction and traffic risk, operates the airport for a defined concession period while collecting aeronautical and non-aeronautical revenue, and hands the asset back to the government at the end. That is why the operator is commercially incentivised to grow passenger numbers and retail spend rather than simply run an airfield. Alongside it, scheduled commercial operations at the old Visakhapatnam civil enclave stop for 30 years from 17 August 2026, which makes Bhogapuram the region’s single scheduled gateway for the long term.

On cost: the project cost is ₹5,640 crore, with some reports citing approximately ₹4,700 crore for the core project scope. Both figures appear in credible coverage, and the gap usually reflects what is being counted — airside and terminal works alone, versus land, enabling infrastructure and financing. The site is 2,203 acres, of which about 500 acres is reserved for later phases.

What can travellers expect at ASR International Airport?

Answer first: a modern terminal with more space per passenger than the old Visakhapatnam civil enclave offered, and a longer journey to reach it. Both halves of that sentence matter when you plan a trip.

• Getting there — 40 to 45 km from Visakhapatnam city, about an hour by road via NH-16 in normal conditions. See how to reach Bhogapuram airport from Visakhapatnam for routes, realistic timings and fare expectations.
• Rail links — there is no railway station at Bhogapuram itself. Vizianagaram Junction (VZM) and Nellimarla are the nearest railheads, both roughly a 20 to 30 minute drive away.
• Where to stay — Bhogapuram is still semi-rural, so airport-adjacent hotel supply is thin. Bhimli, Rushikonda and Vizianagaram town are the practical options; see hotels and stays near Bhogapuram airport.
• Early-morning departures — with an hour of road time each way, an early departure from Visakhapatnam now means leaving the city around 3 am. Staying closer to the airport the night before is a genuine consideration, not an upsell.
• If you are combining the trip with travel — the airport puts Araku Valley, Borra Caves, Bhimli beach and the Srikurmam and Arasavalli temples within comfortable reach; see tourist places near Bhogapuram.

For the news around the opening, read our coverage of the PM Modi inauguration on 1 August 2026, and for a continuously updated overview see the ASR International Airport hub. If the airport has pulled you towards buying land in the corridor, start with our Bhogapuram real estate guide — and read the caveats in it before you commit.