new Delhi : Domestic air passenger traffic improved in February after a sharp decline in the previous month, as more people chose to travel by air amid easing the omicron wave of the coronavirus.
Airports Authority of India (AAI) data shows airports in the country served 17.66 million passengers in the month, up from 15.27 million in January, but down from December’s 25.12 million. Rating agency Icra Ltd said in a report earlier this week that Indian airports are expected to be profitable in 2022-23, after almost two years, driven by the resumption of scheduled international flights and hike in fares.
Icra said the number of passengers at airports is expected to grow by 68-70% to 317-320 million in the next financial year, while domestic passenger traffic is expected to climb up to 64-66 per cent.
Airports of New Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Hyderabad and Kolkata posted the highest domestic air passenger traffic in February, while airports in New Delhi, Mumbai, Kochi, Chennai and Hyderabad were also the busiest for international flights during the month .
In February, Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International Airport reported about 3.07 million domestic passengers, up from 2.33 million in January but down from December’s 4.17 million. Mumbai’s Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport saw 1.9 million domestic passengers, up from 1.38 million in January but down from December’s 2.54 million.
Bengaluru’s Kempegowda International Airport and Kolkata’s Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose International Airport recorded 1.3 million and 981,003 domestic passengers respectively in February, up from 1.1 million and 872,772 passengers respectively in the previous months. Hyderabad’s Rajiv Gandhi International Airport saw 994,737 domestic passengers, up from 872,772 in January.
However, international passenger traffic declined to 2.38 million in February from 2.51 million in the previous month. Total domestic air passenger traffic increased from 12.76 million in January to 15.28 million in February.
New Delhi recorded 722,431 international passengers in February, up from 709,889 in January, but down from December’s 842,582, while Mumbai saw 367,223 passengers in February, up from 370,681 in January. Kochi and Chennai airports saw 214,983 and 194,128 international passengers respectively in February, up from 250,326 and 206,167 in the previous month, respectively.
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