Tier-II cities recorded sharp jump in intl' aircraft movement: AAI

Tier-II cities have seen a sharp jump in international aircraft movement in recent months, with the city of Varanasi recording an impressive growth of 98.6 per cent in March this year as compared to 2017, an AAI report has revealed.

The growth rate of Delhi and Mumbai airports stood at 5.6 per cent and 7.3 per cent, respectively, even as both the airports continue to face capacity constrains, thus limiting the growth of traffic movement.

According to the Airports Authority of India (AAI), the international aircraft movement in the country witnessed a 9.4 per cent growth during April-March 2017-18 fiscal as compared to April-March 2016-17.

International passenger traffic also saw a 10.4 per cent jump during the above period, it said.

Among the tier II cities, the report said Coimbatore saw a 83.1 per cent growth in international aircraft movement and Guwahati recorded 23.5 per cent growth in March this year as compared to last year.

International aircraft movement at Lucknow airport was recorded at 17 per cent this fiscal. The government had last week approved a new terminal for the airport to meet the increased passenger movement there.

Among the big airports running through joint ventures, Hyderabad airport saw the highest international aircraft movement. Its growth rate stood at 23.8 per cent this March, the report added.