100 days after flights resume, daily traffic rise to 30,000 passengers at KIA

Completing 100 days after the resumption of domestic flight operations, the Kempegowda International Airport recorded the highest single-day traffic of 29,950 passengers on August 30. The average daily traffic has gone up from 13,000 passengers to nearly 24,000 over the past week.

Domestic operations had resumed on May 25 after a Covid-induced lockdown. Over the last few weeks, the Vande Bharat mission flights from multiple countries, evacuation flights carrying foreigners from India, and the ‘Air Bubble’ flights had increased the Air Traffic Movements (ATMs). August 28 recorded the highest daily flight traffic with 305 ATMs.

Over the last 100 days, the airport had to perfect contactless processing for lakhs of passengers right from parking to boarding. A ‘War Group’ of domain experts, a stakeholder group of airlines, and Centre, state ministries and security establishments worked to formulate strategies from scratch, recalled Devasia K J, a Bangalore International Airport Limited (BIAL) official who coordinated the Covid response.

Queue barriers outside

To control rising passenger movements, BIAL has now proposed to introduce queue barriers outside the terminal near Gate 1.

“Additional lanes are being created outside to boost capacity within the terminal. Since check-ins are made before, the processing time is now faster,” a BIAL official explained to DH.

Airlines have been asked to make in-flight announcements to prepare passengers for the new processes in place at the airport.

“Arriving flights now follow a very staggered approach in sending passengers to the terminal,” the official said.

Bio-waste from incoming flights and disposable masks and gloves used by airport staff are disinfected and taken away by an agency authorised by the Karnataka State Pollution Control Board (KSPCB), informed the official.

The dramatic drop in footfalls has had a telling impact on the airport’s overall business and revenues of KIA’s commercial outlets have seen a corresponding drop. The drop is particularly stark in the Quad area, where many outlets closed and others switched to grab-and-go mode.

Besides takeaway meals, the food outlets — both inside and outside the terminal — introduced many immunity-boosters on the menu. The Quad area was built as a temporary F&B/shopping zone before a full-fledged zone emerges at the upcoming Terminal-2.