Int’l flights on but response remains sluggish -

Int’l flights on but response remains sluggish -

The Times Of India

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Chennai:

International flights may have resumed under the ‘air bubble’ concept early this month but passenger response is sluggish. Most of the flights have hardly 100 passengers or less as only those who have emergencies or those who are returning to rejoin families are flying.

On Sunday and Monday, the airport handled only 1,500 passengers including arrivals and departures though there were 16 flights. Most of the flights are to the Middle East and Southeast Asia.

An airport official said, “Passenger numbers are erratic. Some of the flights have good load factor while others have only around 100 passengers which is quite low for international flights. We expect the passenger numbers to pick up gradually.”

Quarantine restrictions is a major stumbling block, he added. Though rules have been relaxed in such a way that people who have a Covid-19 negative test certificate can get exemption from a full institutional quarantine, people hesitate.

“It is not easy to get a test done abroad and the tests are expensive too. So many people are deferring their trip till rules will be relaxed further. More people will travel if the need for quarantine is scrapped,” he added.

Many flights from Europe and the US are allowed under the ‘air bubble’ scheme via Delhi but in spite of the demand for people to return to Chennai only 40 to 50 passengers are there on a flight from the US to Chennai via Delhi. A majority of the passengers on these flights get down in Delhi.

Nevertheless, airlines have approached the Airports Authority of India (AAI) to start more services under the ‘air bubble’ concept.

An official said that more airlines are eager to resume international operations. “British Airways has already started their service from Heathrow while Lufthansa is waiting to resume services to Frankfurt these are the two popular European destinations the airport used to have in the pre-shutdown days.” However, frequency is less. This is also considered as a factor that has impacted the passenger flow.

Basheer Ahmed of Metro Travels said, “Students have started to travel to Europe and the UK. We have bookings to Dublin while many people have started to fly to Dubai and Muscat to join duty and also to rejoin families. Air fares are competitive in private airlines which is supposed to encourage more travellers. But still the passenger numbers are not that high.”

More international flights may start in October or November. Kuala Lumpur, Bangkok, Singapore, Colombo and Dubai were some of the popular routes from Chennai in the pre-shutdown days.

Airline officials hope that IPL may trigger the habit of leisure travel.