The civil aviation ministry announced that scheduled commercial flights from Visakhapatnam airport would be suspended as flights would begin operating from the newly-constructed Alluri Sitharamaraju International Airport from August 17 midnight. Movement of commercial air flights at the Civil Enclave at Visakhapatnam airport (INS Dega), would be closed for 30 years. Non-scheduled commercial flight would continue operating at the Civil Encalce at Visakhapatnam Airport. The international travel code VTZ assigned to the Visakhapatnam airport would be transferred to the Alluri Sitharamaraju airport from August 17 midnight. The government issued gazette notification declaring that the Bhogapuram Airport built by the GMR Group under the PPP model would be named Alluri Sitharamaraju International Airport.