Omicron, a factor
For the first time in several months, air passenger traffic in India declined sharply in January due to the spread of the Omicron variant of coronavirus, a latest report by the Airports Authority of India (AAI) says.
Compared to 25.12 million in December, Indian airports catered to 15.27 million domestic passengers in January. In November, there were 23.23 million passengers, up from 19.64 million passengers in October. In September it was 15.44 million and 14.26 million in August.
Airports in New Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Hyderabad and Kolkata recorded the highest domestic air passenger traffic during January. Airports at New Delhi, Mumbai, Kochi, Chennai, and Hyderabad were the busiest for international traffic during the month.
New hopes in February
New Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International Airport hosted about 2.33 million domestic passengers in January. In December, it was 4.17 million.
At the same time, Mumbai’s Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport recorded about 1.38 million domestic passengers during January. In December it was 2.54 million in December.
Bengaluru’s Kempegowda International Airport and Kolkata’s Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose International Airport registered 1.1 million and 872,772 domestic passengers respectively, in January, against 2.03 million and 1.45 million domestic passengers, in December.
New Delhi received 709,889 international passengers in January, down from 842,582 in December. Mumbai reported 370,681 passengers during the month, down from 451,212 in December.
South Indian airports such as Kochi and Chennai airports registered 250,326, and 206,167 international passengers respectively in January, down from 301,338 and 246,387 in December.
But air passenger traffic recovered in February after falling sharply in January.
