Ahmedabad draws away passengers from Rajkot, Bhavnagar airports

Ahmedabad: Air activity, which includes passenger and cargo movement, in Bhavnagar and Rajkot has witnessed a sharp decline over the last few years, according to the Socio Economic Review 2009-10 released recently. The primary reasons cited for this are good air connectivity of Ahmedabad with all the major airports in the country and good road connectivity of the two cities with Ahmedabad. There has been a long standing demand for air connectivity of Rajkot with Delhi and Chennai.
Aircraft departures at Bhavnagar stood at 1,442 in 2006-07, but it fell to 1,382 in 2007-08. The airport saw embarking of only 26,815 passengers that year, which was less than half of the 2006-07 figures (55,145). Outbound air passenger traffic from Bhavnagar fell to 27,409 in 2007-08 from 31,314 the previous year. Air cargo movement was also not encouraging in the corresponding period. Only 26 tonnes were loaded in 2007-08 against 33 tonnes in 2006-07.
At Rajkot, aircraft departures went down from 2,708 in 2006-07 to 2,509 in 2007-08. Cargo movement suffered more here with loading of 449 tonnes in 2007-08; it was 660 tonnes in the year before that. Unloading also fell from 330 tonnes to 287 tonnes in the corresponding period. The number of embarking passengers declined from 80,590 in 2006-07 to 75,984 in 2007-08. Only 77,095 passengers disembarked in 2007-08; in 2006-07, the figure was 82,935, according to the report.
15/03/10 Indian Express

To Read the News in full at Source, Click the Headline

Categories: Airports Mar 2010