Manish Gajbhiye
Aurangabad, Oct 6:
The air service in the city, hampered due to the Covid crisis, is now robustified due to the growing response from the passengers. Moreover, the experts opined that the air passenger load have increased due to the students going abroad for studies from the city.
Presently, Indigo and Air India operate flights from the city, providing connectivity to Hyderabad, Mumbai, and Delhi. At the beginning of October, around 85 to 90 percent of the flights to and from these cities are occupied by passengers.
Till June, the passengers' load was significantly less. However, a sudden increase in the number of passengers was seen from July onwards.
The domestic air services across the country have been hampered due to the Corona crisis since March 2020. Later, the domestic air services were gradually started, but it took too long to start the air services from the city. After frequent persuasion, the air service was started from the city for Delhi, Mumbai, and Hyderabad.
However, due to the government restrictions and the fear of the people for flying in the aircraft, the services did not receive the expected response. Now, as the fear of the third Corona wave has diminished and the restrictions have been reduced, the air services from the city are getting a good response for the past three months now, and it will further increase in the next few months, the experts opined.
Aviation expert Ahmed Jaleel said that the air traffic is getting back to normalcy. Although, the fear of corona has vanished from the minds of the people, and the government has removed the restriction. Care needs to be taken as the Covid situation has not completely receded. Hence, preventive measures need to be taken to avert the crisis faced last year. Still, there is a need to boost the tourism section, which would further improve the situation, he said.
Travel agent Ashutosh Badve said that the Corona situation across the world is getting back to normalcy. Students studying abroad and in various cities in the country prefer the domestic flights operated from the city. Considering the passenger load, the airlines are operating flights on a daily basis now. Now, there is a need to start flights for new destinations like Bengaluru and other cities from where the passengers from corporate and tourism sectors will fly in the city, he said.