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Vijay C Roy
Tribune News Service
Chandigarh, July 22
At a time when air passenger traffic growth is moving in the slow lane, Chandigarh International Airport witnessed over 74% growth in passenger traffic (domestic and international) during April-May 2019, the highest ever growth by any international airport in the northern region. The other two international airports — Srinagar International Airport and Sri Guru Ram Dass Jee International Airport, Amritsar — witnessed 12.5% and 4.8% growth, respectively, during the period.
The growth in traffic at Chandigarh airport is attributed to growth in domestic passengers (79%) as well as international passengers (22%). Further, in terms of passengers handled, Chandigarh International Airport is now at number two from number three in the last fiscal, followed by Sri Guru Ram Dass Jee International Airport, Amritsar.
According to recent Airports Authority of India data, during April-May 2019, 3.97 lakh passengers transited through the Chandigarh airport for both domestic and international flights as compared to 2.28 lakh passengers during the corresponding period of the previous year. The significant increase in traffic is attributed to increase in operational time as last year the airport was closed for air traffic from May 12 to 31.
“Last year, the runaway was closed for repairs that led to decline in passenger numbers,” said Suneel Dutt, CEO, Chandigarh International Airport Limited. However, since the airport is now operational 24x7 with extended runway, the authorities expect that the growth in passengers will continue as Chandigarh airport is gateway to three states besides the Union Territory.
Surprisingly, the airport witnessed a marginal decline of nearly 2% in air traffic in last fiscal because of restricted operations time and disruptions due to frequent closure of runways for repair and extension. The airport handled 20.98 lakh passengers in last fiscal.
The passenger traffic at the Sri Guru Ram Dass Jee International Airport, Amritsar, continued to grow but at a slow rate. During the period, 3.93 lakh passengers transited through the airport as compared to 3.76 lakh passengers a year ago. The growth was attributed to record jump in international traffic as it registered a growth of 23%, while domestic traffic witnessed a decline of 2.2%. The addition of new airlines and new routes to familiar destinations were the main driving factors as the airport achieved growth in passenger numbers. In last fiscal, it handled 25.24 lakh passengers.
Further, according to the data, 5.29 lakh passengers travelled from Srinagar airport during the period as compared to 4.70 lakh passengers in the corresponding period of the previous fiscal.
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