As restrictions ease, passenger flow picks up from Chennai airport

From recording 4.46 lakh domestic travellers in July, there was a 37% increase in the number of travellers in August, with 6.15 lakh passengers utilising the services

With gradual relaxations in COVID-19 curbs in the State, air travel has started picking up pace and Chennai airport is beginning to witness a positive trajectory in passenger traffic. From recording 4.46 lakh domestic travellers in July, there was a 37% increase in the number of travellers in August, with the airport handling 6.15 lakh passengers. From Chennai, which are the cities within the country that people mostly travel to and why?

Apart from those heading out of the city for medical reasons and for making family visits, leisure and business travel has now improved marginally, according to travel experts. In the tier I category, as always, it is the metro cities that top the charts, with the maximum number of flyers going from Chennai to Delhi, Mumbai and Hyderabad.

S. Sakthivadivel, chairperson of the Travel Agents Association of India (TAAI) said one of the main reasons for this was the limited number of international flights from Chennai. Because of this many had to necessarily travel to Delhi or Mumbai. “For instance, quite a lot of them going to the U.S. or the U.K. have to take a connecting flight from Mumbai or Delhi. Then there are some companies which expect people to turn up for a conference in person for which also they travel to these cities,” he said. Bengaluru didn’t figure in the top three because many people preferred to drive down instead of taking a flight, he said. Tier II and tier III cities are beginning to get some traffic from Chennai because of tourists. From Chennai, many go to Coimbatore and Madurai to travel to Ooty or Kodaikanal for a holiday now or to work from these places for a few weeks.