Amid gloom,airport sees a small rise in passenger traffic

Passenger traffic figures at the Mumbai airport obtained by Newsline for the first two months of this financial year —April & May — indicates a nominal rise but only on a month-on-month basis. Also,the figures are lower than even those in 2007. While passenger traffic for April in 2007 stood at 20.6 lakh,the figure for April 2009 stands at 19 lakh – down by about 8%.

However,on a year-on-year comparison,this April’s figures are down 14% compared to passenger traffic of 22.13 lakh in April 2008. Similarly,traffic figures at Mumbai airport for May 2009 is down by 6.67% at 22.11 lakh compared to the May 2008 figure of 23.69 lakh passengers.

However,on a month-on-month basis this year,there is a rise of 14% and that,officials say,is good news. “There is a positive trend in passenger figures on a month-on-month basis,” said the Mumbai International Airport Limited (MIAL) spokesperson. But since the months of June,July and August are traditionally considered dull due to monsoons and ending of summer holiday season,officials are not sure if the trend will continue.

In 2008-09,Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport (CSIA) recorded total passenger traffic figures of 2.34 crore compared to 2.5 crore in 2007-08 – down by 6.4%. Delhi airport recorded passenger figures for 2008-09 at 2.28 crore.

While nobody wants predict what lies in future as far as recession in the India’s aviation industry is concerned,airlines and airports definitely miss the previous highs that lasted roughly till July 2008. “It was after July last year that the decline in passenger figures started,” said the MIAL spokesperson. Passengers traffic figures like those of January 2008 (23.75 lakh) and December 2007 (23.74) lakh are certainly missed by the aviation industry.