COVID-19 second wave impact: 70% decline in passengers in Bhubaneswar airport, 30% in Kolkata-Patna-NE

As the second COVID 19 wave surged in the country it triggered a sharp decline in the number of passengers in the various airports in the country.

In eastern India, Bhubaneswar airport witnessed a record 69% decline of passengers over a period of three weeks.

The airports in Kolkata, Patna and Guwahati too have witnessed a decline in the range of 25- 32%.

Huge downward trend

Airport Authority of India (AAI) data reveals that Bhubaneswar airport is perhaps the worst hit by the second wave. While on April 4 the total footfall in this airport was 9,459, the passenger count dived almost 50% to 4,751 on April 12.

On April 20, the count further dipped to 2,980. On April 25, its stood at 2,936.

“Due to the rise of COVID infection within a period of only 20-21 days the footfall of passengers dropped by 70%, which is very alarming. The number of people arriving in Bhubaneswar is declining faster than those going out,” said AAI officials.

Patna airport is affected, too, but not to the extent Bhubaneswar has been impacted. AAI data suggest the decline around 25%.

On April 1, the total number of passengers passing through the Patna airport was 12,212. On April 14, it went down to 10,980. But on April 21 the figure further went down to 8,435, which was the lowest count in the past three weeks.

On April 25, the figure corrected went up slightly to 9,638.

According to an AAI official, the decline in Patna took place mainly in the number of people leaving from the city. “The departure of passengers declined by 50%, but the arrival figures rose by about 18-20%, which denotes migrants are returning home from different parts of the country.”

Kolkata is facing a tough challenge

The biggest airport in eastern India witnessed a dip of about 30% in passengers in the second wave. Over the past 21 days, the passenger footfall declined more than 30%.

On April 1, the total passenger count stood at 34,140. On April 7 it crept down marginally to 33,820, but on April 19, it showed a decline to 26,807.

The footfall of passengers declined further to 23,845 on April 25.

“Owing to the surge in COVID infection across India, passenger count at the airport has dropped drastically in a month. The second wave is going to impact the aviation industry severely,” said a senior official of Kolkata airport.

On April 23, the West Bengal government announced that those boarding aircraft from Kolkata or coming to Kolkata need to furnish an RT-PCR COVID negative test report.

Such reports are already required for passengers boarding from Mumbai, Pune, Nagpur, Bengaluru, Hyderabad and Kochi.

Northeast airports

AAI revealed that all the NE airports including Guwahati, Silchar, Dimapur etc all are witnessing a drop in passengers.

AAI has revealed some data of all NE airports put together. On April 14, the total figure of passengers passing through these airports was around 21,000. But it dropped to 18,032 on April 19.

On April 21, the count further declined to 16,300 and on April 24, it reached 14,748 only.

However, big airports such as Mumbai, Delhi, Bengaluru and that in Lucknow are not in the position to reveal passenger data.