Kolkata / Siliguri: Kolkata airport and Bagdogra recorded passenger traffic because of the emergence of pandemic 18 months ago, driving a rush celebration season because Kolkatan settled in other cities flying to spend durga puja with family and friends from the city and traffic on holiday.
Between Thursday and Friday, a passenger figure at Kolkata Airport surged 30% – from 36,000-strange to around 47,000.
This is the highest passenger movement recorded at Kolkata airport in more than one and a half years.
While the number of passengers hovered close to the 70,000 mark during the celebration season in the Pre-Covid era, the highest footfall recorded during the Puja Durga Festival last year was 33,819 on October 19, Chaturthi.
The second highest footstep was two days after the dashami when 31,768 passengers traveled through Kolkata airport.
The highest post-pandemic setbel until now has been recorded on February 26 this year when 47,037 people travel through the airport.
With a few more days to go for puja, the record can be defeated again.
The rise of passengers has required a larger spread of labor to keep the toilet clean.
Also, additional door frame metal detectors have been activated, as has become an additional automatic tray taking belt in the security check area.
At present, the number of aviation is around 80% of the install level.
“If the number of Covid cases remains stable after a period of celebration, air travel at Kolkata airport must be closer to the pre-covid level this winter,” said Director of Airport C Pattabhi.
What adds pressure at the Kolkata airport terminal is additional security measures in the context of existing terror warnings that apply in this country during the festive days.
P Subramani, Pattabhi partner at Bagdogra airport which functions as a gateway to North Bengal, declares similar sentiment after the number of passengers increased from around 6,500 on Thursday to more than 8,000 on Friday, again the highest since the pandemic was stated.
Before the pandemic, the airport used to record an average step around 9,000 passengers.
The reason behind the sudden increase in numbers was the tourist rush to Darjeeling and Sikkim.
At present, 26 flights operate to Bagdogra, carrying 6,400 on average passengers, a 55% increase at the passenger foot point compared to the post-covid situation while recording 75% of pre-covid battle movements.
The surge is caused by celebration and tourism.
Subramani acknowledged that handling a surge in passengers in terminals that had space limitations was a challenge.
“We have appointed 12 young men and women to help passengers and ensure the Covid protocol followed,” he said.