Chennai: Passenger traffic at Chennai airport dipped by 18.8 per cent last December, the month the city was under a deluge.
According to figures released by Airport Authority of India, Chennai was in the bottom of the list of international airports in the country in terms on passenger traffic growth between April and December last year, with a growth of just 4.5 per cent. The only airport which performed poor than Chennai is Kochi, recording a negative growth of 8.8 per cent.
Officials blamed it on the rain and flood, which forced closure of the airport nearly for five days.
AAI director Deepak Shastri terms it as a temporary setback. “We will bounce back with renewed vigour,” he says.
Chennai airport saw a total passenger traffic of 10.4 lakh in December last against 12.85 lakh the previous year.
Officials said the airport has already reached its saturation level and the only hope to increase the passenger traffic is to go for a second airport. Cities like Bengaluru have already moved to a larger airport while Chennai, which earlier had plans for a Greenfield airport, has put off the plans despite huge investments pouring in.
06/02/16 C Shivakumar/New Indian Express
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According to figures released by Airport Authority of India, Chennai was in the bottom of the list of international airports in the country in terms on passenger traffic growth between April and December last year, with a growth of just 4.5 per cent. The only airport which performed poor than Chennai is Kochi, recording a negative growth of 8.8 per cent.
Officials blamed it on the rain and flood, which forced closure of the airport nearly for five days.
AAI director Deepak Shastri terms it as a temporary setback. “We will bounce back with renewed vigour,” he says.
Chennai airport saw a total passenger traffic of 10.4 lakh in December last against 12.85 lakh the previous year.
Officials said the airport has already reached its saturation level and the only hope to increase the passenger traffic is to go for a second airport. Cities like Bengaluru have already moved to a larger airport while Chennai, which earlier had plans for a Greenfield airport, has put off the plans despite huge investments pouring in.
06/02/16 C Shivakumar/New Indian Express
