As Covid norms eased, Shamshabad airport sees rise in footfalls

Hyderabad: With all State Governments relaxing the Covid norms, the number of air travellers is slowly picking up across the country in general and Rajiv Gandhi International Airport in particular. The passenger traffic started showing an upward trend from June. The airport witnessed 4 lakh domestic passengers and around 35,000 international travellers during the month of June.

According to the authorities, with vaccine distribution making progress along with relaxed travel restrictions, quarantine protocols, compulsory RT-PCR tests, travellers are gaining confidence and have started feeling comfortable with making travel plans.

The authorities said that Hyderabad Airport saw an increase in the number of flights on domestic routes. The airport recorded a gradual rise in Air Traffic Movements (ATMs) in June. The only thing is that airlines do not serve any food or beverage if the journey time is less than two hours.

From just over a 100 on June 1, the ATMs gradually increased almost to 100 per cent in a span of one month and touched 199 on June 27. From around 10,000 passengers on June 1, the number of passengers in a single day touched around 22,000 on June 27.

The authorities said that Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Ahmedabad and Vizag were the top five sectors that registered the largest growth in the last month. Mumbai recorded the highest growth in terms of passengers with 84 per cent during the same period. Visiting friends and relatives (VFR), SME business travel has largely contributed to the increase in passenger numbers.

The authorities said that random checks were done, and penalties were imposed on violators of Covid protocols. Nearly 20 officials of GHIAL were appointed as Special Police Officers (SPOs) to safeguard and help in the enforcement of Covid-19 safety guidelines.

The GHIAL recently introduced AI-enabled advanced Queue Management Solutions at various touchpoints of the airport such as entry, check-in, security and immigration. The technology is also used for enhanced security such as camera tampering, loitering, parking violation and object detection.

A GMR Hyderabad International Airport spokesperson said, "In these challenging times, the number of passengers crossing 4 lakhs in one month reflects the confidence and trust in air travel."