International passenger traffic at city airport spikes

International passenger traffic at city airport spikes

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Chennai:09.10.2021

As travel has resumed, international passenger traffic has recorded a steady spike at the Chennai airport.

The airport handled 83,000 passengers in August as against 53,000 passengers in July. It is ranked third after Delhi, Mumbai and Hyderabad. Bengaluru handled 80,000 international passengers in August, as per statistics from Airports Authority of India (AAI). Sources said that the numbers for Chennai are projected to touch close to a lakh for September and October. In the pre-Covid days, the airport used to handle around 5lakh international passengers.

Though scheduled international flights are yet to resume, there is a huge demand from people travelling for education, business and leisure.

AAI and airlines officials said that the pent up demand for travel will help the airport touch pre-Covid level patronage by end of the year if scheduled flights are resumed in November.

Sri Lanka and Thailand opening up for vaccinated travellers following European countries, the ongoing Dubai expo and the IPL in the UAE are set to boost demand for travel for leisure and business in the coming weeks from the city. The government of India's decision to resume issuing visas for tourists arriving by charter flights from October 15 will also boost inbound travel.

Sri Lanka, Thailand, countries in the Middle East are the most popular destinations from Chennai. S Baskar, managing committee member of Travel Agents Federation of India (TAFI) said, “International travel is bound to increase in the coming months."

A sample survey by Thomas Cook and SOTC among their customers across metros showed that around 77% of the respondents wanted to fly abroad for leisure in October-November-December period.

Rajeev Kale, president & country head, Thomas Cook (India) Limited said, “Our survey highlights strong travel demand for the last quarter 2021."