Delhi Airport handles over 2.29 million passengers in July; 60 pc less compared to 2019's

As the air travel segment showed signs of revival after the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic in India, Delhi Airport handled around 2.29 million passengers in July 2021, which is 60 per cent less than the figures of 5.80 million handled in the same month in 2019.

The air traffic movement in July 2021 was also 45 per cent less than the figures of July 2019. In July 2019, Delhi Airport handled around 37,700 Air Traffic Management (ATM) while in July 2021 it handled about 20,800 only, Delhi Airport authorities informed in a press release.

"Delhi Airport is also witnessing a gradual growth in passenger numbers in August. During the first 10 days of August 2021, around 90,000 passengers travelled through Indira Gandhi International Airport per day. This is five times more than the passenger numbers as compared to the mid-May 2021 figure when Delhi Airport handled around 18,000 travellers per day. The number by the end of June 2021 increased to about 62,000 passengers per day," the release further stated.

As per the release, once the severe impact of the second wave of COVID-19 wave eased, the Visiting Family and Relatives (VFR) travel pushed up the passenger numbers as people felt the need to travel to their respective homes/base locations.

"On the Business travel front, there has been a slight pickup in demand (with the gradual opening of offices) but it is still very much subdued. The leisure travel (tourists) has also picked up, with the opening of tourist destinations across the country," the release added.

Further, it was informed that in June 2021, most of those who flew were in the VFR category (48 per cent) which was followed by Vacationers (25 per cent) and Business travellers (19 per cent).

"In June 2020, after the gradual lifting of two-month-long country-wide lockdown, majority of air travellers were of VFR category, followed by Business travellers, while those going for vacation were only 2 per cent. During pre-COVID times (in June 2019), around 44 per cent of flyers were vacationers, while 41 per cent were of the VFR category," it added.

The top 10 destinations from Delhi in the month of May and June 2021 were identified as Mumbai, Patna, Bangalore, Pune, Hyderabad, Leh, Chennai, Ahmedabad, Kolkata and Jammu and Kashmir.

According to the release, another contributing factor of the gradual increase in passenger traffic was the opening of Domestic capacity (up to 72.5 per cent levels). The Government from June 2021 started relaxing capacity from 50 per cent to current levels of 72.5 per cent of aircraft capacity.

( With inputs from ANI )

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