Hyderabad: For the first time in history, the number of passengers travelling by airlines surpassed those who preferred AC train travel. In 2016-17, the number of domestic air passengers stood at 15.86 crore against 14.44 crore who took AC coaches in trains.
Across 80 domestic airports, the highest growth in air travel was reported from Gorakhpur (358.7 per cent), Kadapa (300.7), Surat (103.1) and Dehradun (86.1 per cent). Domestic travel was found declined at the Agra, Allahabad, Belgaum, Bhavnagar and Durgapur airports.
According to the data, 81,88,071 passengers flew on international routes while 76,15,097 passengers flew to India between January and March this year.
Air traffic growth has increased by 18-20 per cent over three years, according to the Centre.
The claim of India being the third largest in the aviation market was found to be partially true, Mr Rakesh Reddy D., a city-based RTI activist, stated on Factly, a fact-check portal.
The “largest aviation market” is defined as the largest traffic to, from and within a country as per the International Air Transport Association (IATA).
He said that according to the CAPA-Centre for Aviation, the top five largest domestic aviation markets were the United States, China, India, Japan and Indonesia as of April.
“Although India is the world’s third-largest domestic aviation markets, it is not the third largest aviation market. According to IATA, India is projected to be in the top 3 largest aviation markets surpassing the UK by 2025,” Mr Rakesh Reddy said.
