GMR’s Bhogapuram airport to open in August 2026, creating a new travel-retail catchment

GMR’s ₹5,640 crore Alluri Sitarama Raju International Airport near Visakhapatnam is scheduled to begin operations on August 17, 2026. With initial capacity for 6 million passengers a year and room to scale to 40 million, the airport expands the region’s future airport-retail, F&B and duty-free opportunity.

— Filed Sat, 1 Aug, 2026, 20:01 IST · Source BL · Consumer & Economy · Updated

GMR Group inaugurated the ₹5,640 crore Bhogapuram greenfield airport near Visakhapatnam. The airport will begin operations on August 17, 2026, initially handling 6 million passengers annually, with scalable capacity of 40 million, supporting trade, tourism, cargo and airport retail.

Why this matters

The planned opening follows recent GMR signals on Bhogapuram becoming a north Andhra travel-retail hub and a retail and logistics gateway near Visakhapatnam, while another tracked launch readiness against Parandur land-acquisition delays.

Footfall is steady at 544 signals in the past 90 days; QoQ change figures were not provided.

Also reported by