Passenger footfall crosses 2.6-lakh mark for first time at Amritsar Int’l Airport
Amritsar : Sri Guru Ram Das Jee (SGRDJ) International Airport Amritsar has beaten other international airports in the country in December 2018 with highest percentage of International passenger growth of 48 percent in comparison with the same month in December 2017. Total international passengers’ footfall in a month reached highest ever number of 83,276 passengers. In December, this number was 56,284 passengers.
Passengers carried by international airlines during first nine months (April-December) in current financial year of 2018-19 has reached 5.6 lakh as against 4.4 lakh during the corresponding period of previous year, thereby registering a growth of 26.2 percent. This growth is second highest in the country after Coimbatore recording 27.7 percent.
Quoting figures recently released by Airport Authority of India (AAI), FlyAmritsar Initiative Convener & Overseas Secretary of NGO Amritsar Vikas Manch (AVM) Sameep Singh Gumtala stated that in another landmark, total monthly footfall of passengers (domestic and international) reached an all-time high total of 260,174 passengers surpassing previous high number of 232,837 reached in January 2018. It also recorded total traffic increase of 18.7 percent as compared to December 2017 with 219,216 total passengers.
Gumtala said, “The credit goes to the launch of four direct international flights in 2018 by Air India to Birmingham, Air Asia X to Kuala Lumpur, Indigo to Dubai & Spicejet to Bangkok. Total number of passengers traveling on the international flights increases during the winter holidays and it is expected to continue in January 2019. Installation of CAT-3B at the airport also resulted in less cancellation of flights in December compared to the previous years.
Pleased with the data, Gumtala said even though the main factor for increase in total traffic is International, the contribution for the increase in domestic traffic should also not be overlooked. The domestic passengers’ footfall also increased by 8.6 per cent to highest ever total of 176,898 in December 2018 from 162,932 in December 2017.
More flights are expected to start from the airport soon as three new destinations (Patna, Jaipur, Kolkata) has been awarded to Amritsar under UDAN-3 scheme. Airport is currently directly connected to nine domestic and 8 international destinations. There is already a huge demand especially by the Diaspora for start of direct flights from London, Toronto, Vancouver to Amritsar for 550 years of Guru Nanak Dev Gurpurab celebrations.
Many international airlines like Turkish Airways, Oman Air, Fly Dubai are willing to start flights to Amritsar but Ministry of Civil Aviation, Govt of India is not agreeing to add Amritsar in the air agreements for these airlines to start flights to the holy city of Amritsar. International traffic will see a big increase if these airlines are allowed to fly to Amritsar.
