Mumbai: Unlike other Metros, Mumbai with the airport runway that is stalled offers a direct choice of direct flights to several Tier-II, pre-pandemic cities.
With new jobs, travel and recreation in the past year, flights to non-metro have become increasingly prominent on the city airport radar.
As of July this year, 64% of passengers passing through Mumbai airport are those traveling to or returning from non-metro on direct flights, said Mumbai spokesman International Airport Ltd.
(MIAL).
After the pause in a domestic trip caused by the second Covid-19 wave in the summer, the non-metro route returned this month with the launch of four weekly direct flights from Mumbai to Bareilly and resettlement of direct flights to the level of 18 weekly to Tier-Iis like ajmer, Porbandar, Tirupati and Vishakhapatnam.
Last Mon-th, Gwalior has joined the direct flight list of Mumbai airport.
“Between January and July, Mumbai Airport handled more than 75 domestic passengers lakh, including more than 48 lakh flying to or from around 60 non-metro,” said Mumbai spokesman International Airport Ltd.
(MIAL).
These include recreational travelers and passengers flying between homes and city works they are as from three non-metro goals outside Mumbai during this period – Goa, Ahmedabad and Varanasi – that is.
But the Metro Airport is a traffic ginger with Delhi and Bengaluru among the total three top domestic destinations from Mumbai.
Kapil Kaul of Center for Asia Pacific Aviation, a Flight Consultant Company said, “The non-metro route to METRO increasingly sees more flight deployments during Covid.
Before Covid, flight operations from Mumbai, especially for non-metro were significantly limited due to lack Capacity.
“The surge in demand for flights to non-metro began last year after domestic flights began again on May 25 following a ban on two months.
In the new normal term, business trips can be ignored, the Metro-to-Metro trip fell because flights packed migrants escape from their cities in Tier-Iis straightened the domestic air traffic pattern.
According to the Airport Statistics Authority India, the aim of Tier-II recovered faster, they registered a decline in passenger traffic compared to the Metro at the last fiscal end.
For example, while Mumbai Airport saw a 71% decline in passenger traffic by 2020-21 compared to the previous year, the appropriate decline was 57% for Lucknow, 51% for Ranchi and Raipur, 48% for Patna, 40%, 25% for Gorakhpur, 13% for Pathankot, and so on.
Kaul said, “We will see Mo-Re operations for non-metro because Mumbai airport now has available capacities and airlines such as Indigo want to expand their network.” Before Covid, Lone Runway Airport handles around 950 flights within 24 hours.
Today, he handles an average of 300 flights, less than a third of his capacity.
The official low-cost airline said, “The regional connectivity scheme never really took off in Mumbai because of the airport slot constraints.
The people bound to non-metro must transit through Delhi, Bangalore, Kolkata etc.
without direct flights to small cities .
But Covid has chaid that, at least.
“