Airports witness higher passenger flow

New Delhi: All of India is flying once again. Airports Authority of India's (AAI) latest data for October, 2009, shows that 45 of the 46 big airports in the country saw more people flying than October, 2008. Only Bagdogra saw a 20% dip, while all others — cutting across big and small cities — saw growth — ranging from 155% (Amritsar) to 1.5% (Silchar). In October 2009, overall passenger movements in airports saw a 27.6% growth over the same month last year.
While that's good news for airlines, airport operators are still feeling the heat. AAI chairman V P Agrawal said: "We are now witnessing a phenomenon in past few months where more people are flying but on fewer planes as airlines have cut fleets. That is impacting airports' revenues." Airlines have reduced fleets by nearly 25% in the last two years. As a result, increased passenger numbers on reduced fleets have meant better load factors for them. Many airlines, especially the budget carriers, expect to either break even or post operating profits for the October-December quarter.
Aviation minister Praful Patel said: "The worst for aviation is behind us. If we are able to sustain this growth in 2010, lot of airlines will emerge out of their current problems. So there is cautious optimism."
20/01/10 Saurabh Sinha/Times of India

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Categories: Airports Jan 2010