Bangalore air traffic nosedives by 18 pc

Bangalore air traffic nosedives by 18 pc

Anshul Dhamija & Sujit John | TNN


Bangalore: Bangalore’s air traffic will see a sharp dip in the year ended March 2009, the first in seven years.
The Bangalore International Airport Ltd estimates that the total traffic during the year will be 8.4 million, more than an 18% drop over the 10.3 million that the city recorded in the previous year. The drop comes entirely on account of the fall in domestic air travel, which has been hit by sharply rising air fares and a slowing economy.
International traffic, on the other hand, will actually see a small increase of about 10%, partly because of the entry of a number of new airlines, including Dragonair, Tiger Airways and the international flights of domestic majors like Kingfisher. The last time the city saw a drop in air traffic was in 2001-02 — of about 7% — following the bust in the technology bubble. But thereafter, traffic grew phenomenally. Between 2003-04 and 2007-08, growth averaged over 30%, touching a high of 43.7% in 2006-07.
Albert Brunner, the outgoing CEO of BIAL, said the company had projected a traffic of 11.3m for this year. “But we believe growth will return in the longer term, and it will be higher than worldwide growth rates,” he said.