Passenger traffic spiked 47 pc in August at B'luru airport

Mumbai/Bengaluru: Bangalore International Airport Ltd (BIAL) on Tuesday, September 1 said the passenger traffic spiked 47 percent in August over July, while the number of arrivals and departures logged a 39 percent growth during the month.

With the relaxation of state regulations and the addition of capacity by airlines, both the numbers of passengers and aircraft movement are expected to increase going forward, BIAL said in a release.

“September 1 marks 100 days of the resumption of scheduled domestic air travel in the country and during this period, the airport handled 1.4 million domestic passengers with 15,658 air traffic movements,” the private airport operator said.

Domestic commercial flight operations were allowed in a graded manner, after a two-month hiatus on account of the coronavirus pandemic-induced lockdown.

Since the resumption of domestic operations, the airport has reconnected with 49 of 58 domestic city pairs, achieving 84 percent of the pre-COVID-19 network, it said. It also added that Kolkata emerged as the top destination with 13 percent of domestic passengers to and from Bangalore airport.

“Also, the passenger movement was highest towards the eastern and north-eastern regions at 33.7 percent followed closely by south India at 30.9 percent,” it added.

During the lockdown, together with the aviation community, BIAL worked relentlessly to put in place best-in-class measures at its airport to create a safe, secure, and seamless experience for passengers.

“The technologically-enabled parking-to-boarding contactless journey that minimizes all physical contact was developed and rolled out in just two weeks,” it said.

BIAL also said that aided with facial-recognition for self-boarding as well as various sanitization and hygiene measures, it ensured that passengers continue to have a seamless, touch-free experience at the airport.