Air travel grew 11% in 2003-04

The total number of air travelers in the country grew 11.4 per cent, from 43.72 million in 2002-03 to 48.70 million in 2003-04, thanks to a cut in air fares and a sharp rise in international travel.

According to data compiled by the government, domestic passenger movement increased by 11 per cent from 28.9 million in 2002-03 to 32.08 million in 2003-04. International traffic went up 12.14 per cent from 14.82 million in 2002-03 to 16.62 million in 2003-04.

"Airlines have realised that India is an important market and we see a considerable amount of shift from other modes of traffic to air. One of the main reasons for the increase in international traffic is the travel boom, as well as business traffic to and from India," said Kapil Kaul, senior vice-president, Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation (Capa).

"The growth is partly because of the additional number of seats that various airlines have added for India. The tourism boom in the last one year has been another factor. We expect the growth to be better this year," said Balbir Mayal, president, Travel Agents' Association of India (TAAI).

Total aircraft movements in India also grew to 638,976 in 2003-04 from 560,650 in 2002-03. International aircraft movements were 116,442 in 2002-03 and grew to 132,934 in 2003-04. Similarly, domestic aircraft movements grew to 506,042 in 2003-04 from 444,208 in 2002-03.

In 2002-03, domestic travel in India was on an upswing with about 549.4 million Indians undertaking about 229.4 million trips within the country in 2002-03, according to a study by National Council of Applied Economic Research for the department of tourism.