RGIA flies high post lockdown
The international airport handled 3 million domestic flyers in last six months obeying Covid norms
Hyderabad: The Rajiv Gandhi International Airport (RGIA) in Shamshabad is flying high, having handled three million domestic passengers in the past six months after resuming air operations from May 25, strictly adhering to Covid-19 safety norms.
From about 3,000 domestic passengers daily in the first few weeks post recommencement of domestic operations, the passenger footfall has increased to over 30,000 daily in November 2020, which is 10 times from the restart.
The airport has handled over three million domestic passengers from May 25 till November 23. As passenger footfall was growing by leaps and bounds and with confidence in air travel rising, the worst has passed, airport sources said.
With new hope and vigour, operations at the RGIA are being normalised and the number of passengers on a single day has touched the 37,000 mark for domestic operations post-lockdown in November.
With relaxation of quarantine norms by both the Central and State governments under Unlock 5.0, the Indian aviation sector has been gaining strength steadily. The guidelines on the medical profile of passengers and RT-PCR medical report are still bring asked by many States but thanks to new Covid-19 testing facility at airport, flying seems the safest way to travel.
The RGIA has also seen an uptick in Air Traffic Movement (ATM) – from about 40 daily ATMs in the first few weeks of the restart to over six times growth having handled over 260 domestic flights daily in November 2020. Over 35,000 domestic flights were handled from the day of recommencement till November 23.
The ATM also crossed the 284 mark on a single day in November 2020. The RGIA has regained its 51 destinations out of pre-Covid 55 domestic destinations. With three new domestic destinations – Kozhikode, Imphal and Jagdalpur, the airport is now connected to 54 destinations in the domestic sector.
The top five destinations during post-Covid remain the metro cities – New Delhi, Kolkata, Chennai, Bengaluru and Mumbai. Initially, the airport observed unidirectional traffic due to pent-up demand. The demand now, however, is gradually back to both-ways.
The top three airlines, who are serving the domestic traffic from RGIA continue to be IndiGo, SpiceJet and Air India, the sources added.
The airport spokesperson said: “Crossing three million passenger mark is a testimony to the growing passenger confidence in air travel. With the government allowing airlines to operate 70 per cent their pre-Covid capacity, the airport is geared up for the safe travel of passengers with contact-less initiatives’ at the airport.”
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