Bhubaneswar: The city airport has registered a 26.9% growth in passenger footfall this year compared to the previous year, official sources said.
In 2023-24, the Biju Patnaik International Airport (BPIA) here recorded 46 lakh (4.6 million) passengers, while the number was 36 lakh (3.6 million) in 2022-23.
BPIA officials are hoping to witness a passenger footfall of 50 lakh (5 million) in the current financial year (2024-25) with new domestic destinations being added and more international carriers likely to operate from the airport in the coming days.
By March last year, the airport had been able to touch its pre-Covid footfall of 14,000 passengers daily.
“We have had a growth of about 10 lakh passengers in 2023-24 financial year compared to last year. There has been a 15% rise in aircraft movement also. In 2022-23, the airport recorded 30,745 aircraft movement (scheduled operations) but in 2023-24, it went up to 35,368 aircraft. This is a significant jump,” said airport director Prasanna Pradhan.
In 2019, the airport had recorded a little over 36 lakh passengers, almost the same as 2022-23. Monthly average footfall in 2019 and 2022-23 were around 3 lakh. Compared to the Covid-19 pandemic years of 2020 and 2021, aircraft movement and passenger footfall rose to 4,924 and 11,77,348, respectively, in 2022.
In May 2021, daily passenger arrivals and departures fell to 806, the second lowest figure ever. The lowest ever flight movement from the city airport was recorded in Apr 2020, when the lockdown was imposed across the country with all flights suspended. In Apr 2020, there were only 29 departures and an equal number of arrivals, but all of them were non-scheduled flights. May 2021, the peak of second wave of Covid-19, and June saw gradual fall in cases. In the second wave of Covid, flight services were not completely suspended like in the first wave.
Pradhan said the airport witnesses 47 aircraft arrivals and an equal number of departures, which is the highest ever. “Monthly average footfall in 2023-24 rose to almost 4 lakh. This is a significant rise in passenger footfall. We can infer from data that we may reach the 5- million mark by the end of the current financial year,” he added.
In May 2020, two months after the Covid outbreak and resumption of flights, a meagre 9,493 domestic passengers travelled through BPIA. However, it gradually increased from June 2020 with 64,675 passengers. In December that year, it touched the 2-lakh mark.