Visakhapatnam: The number of international fliers from Vizag airport may break all past records this fiscal with a growth of 35.2 per cent so far compared to the corresponding months of last fiscal.
According to the latest report of Airport Authority of India (AAI) on traffic flow from April to December, International passengers increased from 71,429 to 96,544.
The international fliers have been hovering around 1 lakh in the last two calendar years in 2015 and 2016.
When it comes to Domestic fliers, the number has gone up from 16,86,091 to 17,12,659 with 1.6 per cent growth.
Eight airports Pune, Patna, Chandigarh, Bagdogra, Madurai, Aurangabad, Gaya and Visakhapatnam are grouped in custom category.
Coming to the international aircraft movement from April to December of last and current fiscal, the number has jumped from 1,263 to 1,069 with 18.1 per cent growth. Much to its contrast, the domestic aircraft movement has seen downtrend this fiscal with a negative growth of 4.1 per cent, going down from 13,444 to 12,893.
Vizag airport director G. Prakash Reddy said flight operations to Colombo and Kuala Lampur have increased in frequency and attributed it to the increase in the international fliers and expect the numbers to rise further with introduction of international operations.
Arun Jaitley proposed to give a push to UDAN (Ude Desh Ka Aam Nagrik), an initiative to make air travel to India’s tier-II and tier-III cities more affordable.
The idea is to put smaller cities and remote regions on the aviation map, by getting domestic airlines to ply more regional routes. Under the scheme, the government offers incentives to airlines to flag off new flights to neglected smaller cities and towns by providing viability gap funding to make these operations profitable.
Two airlines Air Odisha and Cruise availed permission for operating UDAN flights from Vizag airport connecting nearby cities. However, operations are yet to start. “Vizag was in round 1 list and new ones are given a chance in different rounds. I hope operators start soon. Moreover, with bus fares going up, UDAN will further the increase footfall in the airport,” said the director.
