OVER 100% JUMP IN FLYERS FROM CITY AIRPORT IN 4 YRS

Nagpur: In some good news for the city’s Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar International Airport, it witnessed 101% growth of flyers in four years. Reply to an RTI query has revealed that the number of flyers to and from the city jumped to 26.72 lakh in 2018 from 13.24 lakh in 2014. In comparison to 2017, last year’s growth is 30% higher.
Even on revenue side, Mihan India Limited (MIL), managing the city’s airport, clocked a growth of Rs120.04 crore between a period of January 1 and December 31, 2018, from Rs55.12 crore during the corresponding period of 2017. These figures were disclosed by MIL’s senior airport director Vijay Mulekar in reply to multiple queries by RTI activist Abhay Kolarkar.

The MIL earned highest revenue of Rs25.09 crore from landing of aircraft of various carriers, including Jet, SpiceJet, IndiGo and GoAir, besides Air India. It was followed by fees collected from passengers which was around Rs16.36 crore, parking charges Rs13.44 crore and by selling advertisement rights for Rs2.27 crore.

At the same time, MIL incurred an expenditure of Rs93.60 crore, which is also on higher side compared to Rs55.51 crore in 2017. In 2018, about 1,246 chartered planes and helicopters landed in the city, as against 1,306 in 2017. Three aircraft made emergency landing in 2018 against four in 2017. The MIL collected a revenue of Rs44.23 lakh from private and emergency landings last year, which is less by Rs4.88 lakh in the same period of 2017.

Senior airport officials attributed this spurt in number of flyers to IT professionals and students, who were flying in large numbers from the city. “With IT bellwethers like TCS and HCL starting their full-fledged operations from the city, even the number of flights have doubled to cities like Pune, Bengaluru, Mumbai and Hyderabad. The setting up of national institutions like All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), Indian Institute of Management (IIM), National Law University (NLU) and Indian Institute of Information Technology (IIIT) also led to the rise in air traffic as a large number of students from across the country chose to study here,” he said.

They added that since both chief minister Devendra Fadnavis and Union minister Nitin Gadkari hail from the city, the airport has become a happening one as most of the major programmes like national and international conferences were being held here, besides political ones.

Mulekar, however, refused to provide information on the number of flights cancelled and delayed last year and number of passengers cancelling the tickets. He diverted all queries to the respective aircraft carriers clarifying that MIL didn’t keep such information.

FLYING HIGH

#Flyers travelling to & fro from airport in last 5 years:

Year ------------ Passengers ------------- % increase

2014 ------------ 13,24,300 --------------- NA

2015 ------------ 15,33,775 --------------- 15%

2016 ------------ 18,35,996 --------------- 19%

2017 ------------ 20,61,350 --------------- 12%

2018 ------------ 26,72,020 --------------- 30%

# Revenue & expenditure incurred by MIL (In crore):

Year ---------- Revenue ----------------- Expenditure

2017 ---------- 55.12 --------------------- 55.51

2018 ---------- 120.04 -------------------93.70

# Private flights landed in city:

Year ---------- Non-scheduled ----------------- Emergency

2017 ---------- 1,306------------------------------- 4

2018 ---------- 1,246 ------------------------------ 3

# How revenue came for MIL:

Landing -------------- Rs25.09 cr

Parking -------------- 13.44 cr

PSF ------------------ 17.36 cr

Advt ----------------- 2.27 cr

Total ---------------- 120.04 cr

(* PSF — Passenger Service Fees)

# Passengers travelled from the city in last 2 yrs:

Year ---------- Arrival ---------------------------- Departure

2017 ---------- 10,14,188------------------------- 10,47,161

2018 ----—— 13,37,840 ----------------------- 13,34,180

Total ----—— 23,52,028 ----------------------- 23,81,341

Increase -------3,23,652-----------------------—- 2,87,019