PUNE: The passenger traffic at the city airport on Tuesday was the lowest in over four months, revealed the figures provided by the authorities.
On Tuesday (March 23), only 6,367 passengers used the airport (considering both arrivals and departures). According to the airport officials, just 2,908 passengers arrived at the airport on Tuesday, while 3,459 departed.
On most of the days in March, the number of arrivals was less than the departures. For example, on March 22, there were 3,541 arrivals and 3,933 departures. On March 21, there were 5,083 arrivals against 5,170 departures. Similarly, on March 20, there were 3,379 arrivals against 3,500 departures. On March19, there were 3,325 arrivals and 3,725 departures.
Before March 23, the lowest recorded passenger traffic at Pune airport was 4,242, on November 14 last year.
“One must remember that on November 14 (Saturday), there were only 36 flight movements. The number of flight movements in Pune is less on the weekends. On March 23, there were 64 flight movements. Even though the drop in the number of passengers is a cause for concern, it was expected, considering the Covid surge in the state,” an airport official said.
“While the difference isn’t huge, slowly but steadily, the number of people coming to Pune has been declining. The case was not the same in early March or even last month. During a large part of February too, the number of arrivals has been more than departures,” the official said.
Airlines also said the load factor on their flights had become thin. “From 100% capacity, the load factor on flights on the always busy Pune-Delhi route has fallen by almost 40%,” an airline representative said.
Market research consultant Pranav Pawar travels more than thrice each month to different cities and said he never stopped travelling after the resumption of air travel in May last year. However, according to him, flyers are not as cautious as they used to be.