Air passenger traffic, international and domestic together, registered a healthy 8.1 per cent growth in the first four months of this financial year, compared to a 0.1 per cent growth in the same period last year.
The domestic sector fared better, with passenger traffic growing 9.5 per cent in April-July 2003 over the same period last year. Domestic passenger traffic had registered a 0.4 per cent dip in April-July 2002 over the same period in 2001.
International passenger traffic rose 5.5 per cent and airports across the country handled 14.82 million passengers this year compared to 13.7 million passengers during April-July 2002, according to data released by the Airports Authority of India (AAI).
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In July this year, domestic and international passenger traffic together went up 12.3 per cent. In comparison, July 2002 had witnessed a 1 per cent dip in traffic over July 2001. International passenger traffic during the month increased 14.8 per cent and domestic traffic 10.9 per cent. The total number of passengers carried in the month was 3.34 million.
Industry experts said the overall growth in the first four months of 2003 was indicative of the strong recovery made by domestic airlines after the slump in the aftermath of the 9/11 terror strikes. Traffic growth figures have been creeping up from the middle of 2002.
The various airports handled a total of 9.90 million domestic passengers in April-July 2003 compared to 9.04 million in the previous year. The airports handled 4.92 million international passengers in the same period compared to 4.66 million in April-July 2002.
Kochi registered the maximum growth in passenger traffic of 31.5 per cent in the first four months of 2003. At 59.4 per cent, Juhu domestic airport registered the biggest drop in passenger traffic.
Among the five top international airports, Delhi registered the highest growth rate of 13.7 per cent during the period, followed by Kolkata (10.2 per cent), Thiruvananthapuram (6.3 per cent ) and Mumbai (4.4 per cent). Chennai, however, recorded a decline of 0.6 per cent in the same period.
Cargo traffic, on the other hand, witnessed a 0.5 per cent dip during the same period. Though domestic cargo handled at the various airports increased 3.4 per cent, international cargo dipped 2.5 per cent. The airports across the country handled 332.99 thousand tonnes of domestic and international cargo.