Mumbai: The passenger traffic at the Mumbai airport is on a steady rise. From the 2.2 lakh domestic passengers the airport handled in June, the number has gone up to 6.5 lakh domestic passengers in September. The number of domestic flights handled went up from over 2,600 to about 6,600 during these three months, according to data released by the Mumbai International Airport Ltd (MIAL) on Friday.
On the international front, the passenger traffic went up from 38,000 passengers in June to 77,000 in September as the number of flights went up from 1640 in June to 1860 in September. One in every two international passenger flight that departed or arrived in Mumbai between June and September was bound for the Middle East.
While Middle Eastern flights have always been popular with Indians, what’s different here is that these flights were packed largely with passengers bound for the Middle East and not transit passengers who fly onwards to US, Europe, Africa as was the case in the pre-COVID times.
"The travel restrictions in place in the June-September quarter meant that Indian passport holders could largely do only point-to-point travel, that is, board only direct flights to their destinations. For those aching to go on international holidays then, Dubai emerged as a popular tourist destination," said an airline official, requesting anonymity.
31/10/20 Manju V/Times of India
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