Signs of revival in passenger traffic at BIA

Signs of revival in passenger traffic at BIA

K.V. Subramanya
CHICKABALLAPUR: Passenger traffic at Bengaluru International Airport (BIA) at Devanahalli, which had plummeted owing to economic slowdown, has picked up in the past six months.

Passenger traffic, domestic and international, has been showing an upward trend since June 2009.

Further, two months of festival season had resulted in an increase in the domestic traffic, Bengaluru International Airport Ltd. (BIAL) sources told The Hindu on Tuesday.

A comparison of passenger traffic statistics for July, August, September and October of the current year with that of the corresponding period of 2008 show that the market was recovering from the effects of the recession that prevailed during the earlier part of the year, the sources said.

Passenger traffic at the BIA had increased by 17 per cent from July to October compared to those four months of the previous year.

Incidentally, the maximum increase of 22 per cent was witnessed in September when the pilots strike had severely hit the air traffic across the country, the sources said.

The BIA handled 55,72,117 passengers from April to October this year and around 80.32 per cent of them were domestic travellers.

In the past six months, domestic carriers have stabilised with an increase in the number of passengers, which they did not achieve a year ago.

The sources said that while no new airline had commenced operation from BIA in the recent months, the positive traffic growth that was continuing at the airport would result in new markets being opened by airlines in the future.