Bangalore’s air traffic dips 14%

Bangalore’s air traffic dips 14%
International Traffic Increases By 6%
Anshul Dhamija | TNN

Bangalore: After five years of phenomenal growth, Bangalore’s passenger air traffic — domestic and international — has plummeted by a whopping 14% during the year 2008-’09. The drop is a result of the meltdown in air travel industry, which has still not flown out of turbulence though a silver lining has been provided by a rise in international traffic.
As per the data calculated by Bengaluru International Airport (BIA), total passenger traffic for the year gone by stood at 8.71 million as against 10.12 million during the year 2007-’08. These numbers are in line with BIA’s forecast that it gave in January this year.
Domestic passenger traffic in 2008-09 stood at 7.07 million down 17.41% from 8.5 million reported in the previous year.
International traffic on the other hand grew by 6% at 1.63 million passengers as against 1.5 million reported in the previous year. This is largely because of the entry of a number of new airlines, including Dragonair, Tiger Airways and the international flights of domestic majors like Kingfisher. Besides, many international carriers like Emirates have doubled their capacity into the city compared to the previous year. The last time the city saw a drop in air traffic (-7%) was in 2001-02, following the bust in the technology bubble. But thereafter, passenger traffic grew phenomenally. Between 2003-04 and 2007-08, growth averaged over 30%, touching a high of 43.7% in 2006-07.
BIAL has a capacity to handle 14 million passengers per annum. When the airport opened last May, there had been criticism that as it was already running at full capacity, it would soon be congested and that BIAL needed to invest in fresh capacity.
The figures, instead of rising, have steadily gone downhill. The traffic figure is bound to silence critics who were seeking the re-opening of the old HAL airport on account of BIA’s expected capacity woes.
While BIAL can breathe easy on that count now, it would trouble the company financially. The airport is already running huge losses. For one, the domestic UDF (user development fee), which accounts for a large part of BIA’s revenue stream, was give clearance by the government six months post the airport’s opening. Besides, the amount being levied at the moment of Rs 260 — which is actually an ad-hoc figure — is way below the price of Rs 675, which BIAL had sought. Given the poor state of domestic air travel, it is unlikely to be revised higher. So now, all plans of expansion of the airport have been put on hold. According to senior officials at BIAL, “only after the final domestic UDF is decided will the airport’s management approach the board on the expansion plans.”