Nashik: The Jalgaon airport, managed by the Airports Authority of India (AAI), has registered a six-fold increase in passenger footfall in the last six months despite the Covid outbreak.
According to the data shared by AAI, the passenger footfall in July was 164 and it rose to over 1,000 in December 2020. The airport has handled over 21,000 passengers ever since AAI made the airport functional in September 2019.
At present, a private airline operates flights between Jalgaon-Ahmedabad-Jalgaon thrice a week and Jalgaon-Mumbai-Jalgaon once a week. Before the outbreak of Covid, the private airline used to operate every day to and from Ahmedabad and five days a week connecting Mumbai.
“The footfall at our airport is growing at a decent pace despite the pandemic. We have been adhering to the safety protocols. We are conducting RT-PCR tests of passengers arriving, free of cost,” Sunil Maggirwar, the Jalgaon airport director, told TOI.
He said the footfall will further increase in the future as another private airline has written to him stating the airline is keen to operate to and from Jalgaon.
One of the biggest advantages for the airport is that Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has approved instrument flight rule (IFR) in January last year, that has paved way for aircraft to land even at night, he said.
“This has ensured no flights are cancelled even due to low visibility. There have been two occasions in the recent past when flights arrived at night due to delay,” added the airport director.
Jalgaon airport is the fourth AAI managed airport in Maharashtra, which has got the IFR approval from DGCA.
10/01/21 Ranjan Dasgupta/Times of India
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