Aircraft Movement Up 2% In April 2001

International aircraft movement increased by 11.1 per cent during April 2001, as against April 2000.

Domestic aircraft movement however, decreased by 0.3 per cent. This has led to an overall increase of 2 per cent in total aircraft movement over the period.

According to data compiled by the Airports Authority of India (AAI), 41.88 thousand aircraft movements were handled at the airports managed by the authority.

At the five international airports, international aircraft movement increased by 6.4 per cent during April 2001, as against April last.

The domestic airports however, registered a growth of 40.2 per cent in international aircraft movement during the same period.

The five international airports include Mumbai, Delhi, Chennai, Kolkata and Thiruvananthapuram.

Tiruchirapalli (146 per cent), Kochi (95.5 per cent), Lucknow (80 per cent), Goa (78.8 per cent) and Amritsar (65.5 per cent) were the airports that registered massive growth figures.

The total aircraft movement during the period equaled 41,885 aircraft. Out of the total aircraft movement, international movements equaled 9,236 aircraft. The domestic movements were 32,649. 10,021 were defence-related and non-commercial flights.

The five international airports handled 53.5 per cent of the total 41,885 aircraft. This equals 22,397 aircraft. The balance 46.5 per cent was handled by the remaining airports.

Airports managed by the AAI handled a total of 40,677 aircraft, of which were 31,830 domestic and 8,847 international flights.

The airports handled by the state governments including those at Surat, Kolhapur, Sholapur, Diu and Lengpui handled 264 domestic flights.

The balance 944 aircraft were handled by the private airports including Kochi, of which 389 were international flights and 555 were domestic flights.

Incidentally, the aircraft traffic controls (ATC) for all private airports are handled by the authority itself.

Total international movements equaled 9,260 aircraft, of which 7,636 aircraft were handled at the international airports and 1,600 at domestic airports.

Total domestic movements were 32,649 flights, of which the international airports handled 14,761 flights and 17,888 were handled by domestic airports.