Mumbai airport records nearly 4-fold growth in passenger traffic in August

The onset of the festive season coupled with some countries easing visa and travel curbs helped Mumbai's CSMIA to post a nearly four-fold growth in passenger traffic in August.

The onset of the festive season coupled with some countries easing visa and travel curbs helped Mumbai's Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport (CSMIA) to post a nearly four-fold growth in passenger traffic in August.

CSMIA handled 16-lakh passengers in August this year, the private airport operator said on Tuesday.

Of this, the domestic passenger segment accounted for almost 90 per cent, while international was a little over 10 per cent, amid a ban on scheduled international flight operations from late March 2020, and only a limited number of air services being allowed on overseas routes under various special arrangements and pacts.

In August 2020, the country's second busiest airport handled 4-lakh passengers.

CSMIA expects an upward trend in leisure travel both on domestic and international routes in the coming months, with the ensuing festival and holiday season, it said in a release.

CSMIA played host to a total of approximately 15,87,150 passengers with flights from across domestic and international destinations in August, it said in a release.

With the festive season just around the corner and with countries across the globe easing down travel restrictions, August witnessed a surge in the number of passengers travelling through CSMIA, it stated.

Of the total passengers, 14,02,369 were domestic and the remaining 1,84,787 passengers were international passengers, it said, adding that about 7,85,479 passengers arrived at the CSMIA, while 8,01,677 flew out to various domestic and international destinations in the previous month.

Delhi, Bangalore and Goa emerged as the most-travelled domestic destinations from Mumbai Airport, while Doha emerged as the top most international destination, it added.

With festivals like Raksha Bandhan, Janmashtami and Onam falling during weekends in August, the Airport witnessed an upward trend in week-end travel.

Goa emerged as the highest travelled destinations with 22,078 passengers, followed by Srinagar, Jammu and Leh during the weekend of August, CSMIA said.