The Navy’s air station INS Baaz at Campbell Bay is set to be extended to 10,000 feet, as authorities look for ways to ease the islands’ persistent connectivity troubles.
Officials in the Andaman and Nicobar Administration say the island chain is steadily losing tourists to destinations like Thailand. High airfares and unpredictable flight operations at Veer Savarkar Airport in Sri Vijaya Puram (formerly Port Blair) are cited as the main reasons.
An ANA official said the Andamans currently handle only 60–65 per cent of the tourist traffic the islands can sustainably support. A one-way economy ticket from Kolkata costs around INR 8,000, while a Kolkata-to-Bangkok fare is only marginally higher, at INR 9,000–9,500.
With Thailand offering visa-on-arrival facilities, many travellers choose the foreign destination over the Andamans, despite the islands having much more to offer visitors, the official noted.
Airlines such as Air India Express say unpredictable weather over Sri Vijaya Puram forces flights to turn back to the mainland, pushing them to keep fares high as a buffer against these disruptions.
Compounding the problem, the archipelago lacks an alternative airport for commercial jets. INS Baaz’s 4,500-foot runway remains too short for Boeing 737s or Airbus A320s, the aircraft domestic carriers use to fly the mainland-Andaman route.