Covid-19 impact: Karnataka's airports see poor traffic

Hubballi airport saw the least number of passengers or flights among the seven airports in Karnataka in June.

According to Airports Authority of India report released on their website recently, Hubballi saw only 55 passengers either arriving or departing from the city's airport in 14 flights in the month of June. In the same month last year, Hubballi airport, which was third busiest before the pandemic, had facilitated 45,973 passengers and handled 604 flights.

Since April 2020 to June, the Hubballi airport has handled only 18 flights (as against 1,958 during the same period last year) and 122 passengers (1,50,416 between April-June 2019).

Belagavi second best

Of all the seven airports in State-- Bengaluru, Mangaluru, Hubballi, Belagavi, Mysuru, Kalaburagi and Vijaynagara (Hosapete)-- it was the Sambra airport which saw the highest number of passengers and flights after Bengaluru. The Sambra airport also outperformed the Managluru international airport in June. As many 10,224 passengers travelled to or from Belagavi airport in June, whereas Mangaluru airport saw a footfall of only 8,608 passengers including 3,726 international and 4,882 domestic passengers. Belagavi airport handled 391 flights whereas Mangaluru airport handled 190 flights.

Not just Mangaluru, even the Bengaluru international airport saw a decline in the number of passengers and flights in June. Only 3.69 lakh domestic and 10,654 international passengers arrived or departed from Kempegowda International Airport, Bengaluru in June as against 27.59 lakh total passengers in June 2019. Between April-June 2020 the Bengaluru airport saw only 4.54 lakh total passengers (domestic and international) as against 84.11 lakh total passenger during the same period last year. The number of flights to and from Bengaluru also saw a huge dip in June with only 731 international (2,582 in June 2019) and 4290 domestic (16,216 in June 2019) flights.

Though the Mysuru domestic airport handled a higher number of flights compared to last June, the number of passengers either arriving or departing saw a decline. Last year June 4,775 passengers travelled in 96 flights, whereas in June 2020 the airport handled 3,158 passengers and 330 flights.

Speaking to DH, Hubballi Airport Director Pramod Kumar Thakare said the entire aviation industry is bleeding and the June results are a reflection of this. With limited tourism and business activities, the number of fliers has fallen.

The quarantine rules in various States, guidelines issued by the MOS for aviation for standard operating procedure and others has also resulted in lesser air-travellers.

“We are hopeful that in August when five more flights are expected to commence its service from Hubballi airport, the numbers can improve,” he said and added that the airport is ready for the ‘new normal’ air-travelling. “We have ensured that online boarding passes checking and touchless security check-ups and other safety measures are taken up to ensure safety of passengers, he said.