Air passenger traffic in India continued its growth trajectory for the third straight month in March, underscoring a reduction in coronavirus cases and improving passenger confidence amid airlines adding new flights.
Data released by the Airports Authority of India (AAI) shows that Indian airports handled 24.43 million passengers in March, up from 17.66 million passengers in February and 15.27 million in January.
Domestic passengers from airports stood at 21.12 million in March, up from 15.28 million in the previous month.
During March, the number of international passengers rose to 3.31 million from 2.38 million the previous month, as the government lifted the ban on scheduled international flights from March 27 after nearly two years.
Until then, international flights were operated through bilateral so-called air bubble agreements between India and select countries.
“On a sequential basis, the number of departures was up about 42% in March 2022, driven by the increased pace of vaccination and the rapid reduction of the third wave of COVID-19, which allowed a quicker lifting of travel restrictions, Rating agency Icra Ltd said in a recent report.
With the lifting of restrictions on international flights, the demand for international flights is likely to increase further in April.
An industry official said they expect an improvement in travel demand from the upcoming summer holiday season.
“However, it may take a few months for corporate bookings to recover to their pre-pandemic levels,” the official said, requesting anonymity.
Airports of New Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Hyderabad and Kolkata recorded the highest domestic air passenger traffic during March.
In terms of international traffic, the airports of New Delhi, Mumbai, Kochi and Chennai were the busiest, shows data from AAI, which runs most of the country’s airports.
New Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International Airport reported at least 4.09 million domestic passengers in March, up from 3.07 million in the previous month.
Mumbai’s Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport recorded 2.49 million domestic flights in March, compared to 1.9 million in February.
Bengaluru’s Kempegowda International Airport and Hyderabad’s Rajiv Gandhi International Airport registered 1.97 million and 1.38 million passengers respectively during March, up from 1.3 million and 0.99 million domestic passengers respectively in February.
In terms of international traffic, New Delhi recorded 983,728 passengers in March, up from 722,431 passengers in February, while Mumbai reported 538,586 passengers in March, up from 367,223 passengers during February.