Indore: Madhya Pradesh has witnessed a 22 per cent increase in the number of flyers to 32.96 lakh during the last financial year. The five airports in the state – Indore, Bhopal, Jabalpur, Khajuraho and Gwalior – have flown 32.96 lakh passengers in FY18, against 27.05 lakh in FY17, a latest Airports Authority of India (AAI) data showed.
However, none of these airports have international flight operations. “The number of people taking flights has been increasing steadily in Madhya Pradesh. However, the airlines are still gauzing the situation to start international flights from the state,” Travel Agents Association of India’s Madhya Pradesh-Chhattisgarh unit secretary Hemendra Singh Jadaun told PTI today.
He suggested the flights to Singapore and Dubai can be started from Indore, adding, “Both the cities have special importance on the global tourism map. There are direct flights to many countries from these cities. The airlines will also get benefit of this crucial global connectivity.”
The Devi Ahilya Bai Holkar Airport of Indore witnessed the highest number of flyers last fiscal, with 22.69 lakh people travelling, a 27 per cent increase over 17.84 lakh in FY17, the AAI data showed. The number of flyers from Raja Bhoj Airport of Bhopal also increased by 6.8 per cent to 7.22 lakh, against 6.76 lakh in FY17, while the Dumna Airport in Jabalpur hosted 2.22 lakh people in FY18, 31 per cent more than 1.69 lakh in FY17.
Rajmata Vijayaraje Scindia Air Terminal of Gwalior registered an increase by 53.7 per cent to 25,248, over 16,425 passengers in FY17. However, the civil aerodrome in Khajuraho, the world’s famous tourist destination for its ancient temples, registered a decline of four per cent last financial year, with just 56,431 people travelling, against 58,861 in FY17.
Khajuraho has been named by the tourism ministry as one of the 10 selected places in the country which will be developed as an ideal tourist destinations. Experts, however, say the pace of growth in the civil aviation and tourism industry here has been sluggish due shortage of flights.