It is recording steady growth after a turbulent phase during the peak of COVID-19
Visakhapatnam International Airport has been slowly but steadily recovering from the outbreak of the pandemic during the last few months.
Due to the easing of restrictions on air travel, the number of passengers increased to 64,732 in June, to 1,04,044 in July and 1,48,249 in August. International flights, which were canceled due to the pandemic, are yet to resume from Visakhapatnam.
However, the number of domestic passengers declined to 45,726 during May (2021) this year as compared to 1,15,143 in the previous month.
Flight movement was also reduced due to the cancellation of flights due to poor protection as a result of the threat of a pandemic due to a second wave. Domestic flight movement, which was 1,322 in April, 2021, declined to 720 in May and 654 in June. However, they are slowly picking up with the revival of services. The flight traffic increased to 964 in July and 1,292 in August.
The airport, which handled 27,03,261 domestic and 1,50,370 international passengers during the 2019-20 financial year, recorded a slight decline in the next financial year as the COVID-19 pandemic resulted in restrictions and lockdown during February/March 2020.
There was a sharp drop in airport handled passengers during 2020-21 as the pandemic hit the aviation sector badly. During 2020-21, the number of domestic passengers declined to 11,06,451 and international passengers were only 8,192.
Aircraft movement from Vizag airport was the highest during 2018-19 with 22,376 domestic and 1,806 international flight movements, taking the total movements that year to 24,182. The following year (2019-20), domestic flight movements declined sharply with restrictions and lockdowns at the end of the financial year. However, the international flight movement during the year increased marginally to 1,899 during that year.
“With the commissioning of the N-5 taxi track, the movement of aircraft is expected to increase significantly. We are requesting the airline operators to use the newly constructed parking bay at the airport for parking their aircraft in Vizag at night. It will facilitate late night arrival and early morning departure,” said airport director K. Srinivasa Rao said.
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