Ahead of the festive season, August witnessed a surge in the number of passengers travelling through Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International airport (CSMIA) with a passenger footfall of over 1.5 million. This has been marked as a huge surge in passengers flown in and out of the CSMIA in the month of August, in comparison to 4 lakh passengers in the corresponding time period.
With the nationwide vaccination drives, the number of vaccinated passengers is increasing, thus, leading to the growth in demand for air travel. The airport authorities said in a statement that the CSMIA played host to a total of 15,87,150 passengers with flights across domestic and international destinations in the month of August, wherein 14,02,369 were domestic passengers and 1,84,787 flew to international locations.
"About 7,85,479 passengers arrived at CSMIA in the month of August, while 8,01,677 passengers departed from CSMIA to various domestic and international destinations. CSMIA registered Delhi, Bangalore and Goa emerging as the most travelled domestic destinations from CSMIA with 2,42,085, 1,11,026 and 95,089 passengers respectively," read the release.
Meanwhile, Doha emerged as the top international destination with approximately 41,410 passengers to and from CSMIA, followed by Dubai and Male with 37,126 and 18,190 passengers respectively. Indigo, Air India and Vistara carried the highest number of passengers on domestic routes while Qatar Airways, Indigo and Air India catered to the majority of passengers internationally.
The CSMIA witnessed an upward trend of passengers travelling over the weekend due to festivals like Raksha Bandhan, Janmashtami and Onam falling during the weekend in August. CSMIA registered Goa emerging as the highest travelled destination with 22,078 passengers which was followed by Srinagar, Jammu and Leh during the weekend of August 2021. Moreover, an upward trend in the number of passengers travelling for leisure locally and internationally is expected in the coming months.
With the easing of restrictions, there has been an increase in passenger traffic, and to ensure hassle-free travel, the CSMIA has established multiple counters of testing facilities at Terminal 2 for international and domestic passengers. For passengers wanting a quicker result, CSMIA also has a facility for an express test that provides prompt & accurate diagnosis in 13 minutes.
