Now, airport seeing 1,000 footfall daily

MOHALI: With around 12 flights operating from Chandigarh international airport now, the incoming passenger frequency in the last one week has increased with approximately 1,000 passengers arriving and departing daily.

The operations resumed at the airport on May 25 after it remained closed for more than two months in the wake of the coronavirus outbreak.

As per flight schedule data, the flights are now departing with 80% occupancy and arriving with 91% occupancy since last week.

UP, BUT STILL MUCH LOWER THAN AVERAGE

According to the data provided by the airport authorities, in the last six days, a total of 2,978 passengers have arrived in Chandigarh, whereas 2,686 have departed. A total of 65 flights have operated so far to and from Chandigarh between June 10 and June 14, carrying only 5,664 passengers.

On Sunday, seven flights operated to and from Chandigarh in which 386 passengers arrived and 328 departed, with a total footfall of 714. A day before on Saturday, 16 flights operated to and from Chandigarh in which 915 passengers arrived and 765 departed with a total footfall of 1,680.

Before the lockdown, the average footfall at the airport used to be around 5,000-5,500 passengers daily.

The footfall has increased gradually since May 25 when operations resumed. During the first two weeks, only 2,376 passengers arrived in 31 flights functioning with 42% occupancy, and only 1,433 departed with a 26% occupancy.

The most popular destinations from where maximum passengers have been arriving are Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Ahmadabad, Bengaluru, Dharamshala and Srinagar, and the most popular carriers are Indigo, Air India, Air Asia, Go Air and Air Vistara.