Flights and passenger traffic dips drastically at Chennai airport

Officials of the Airports Authority of India (AAI) said from last month, there had been consistent dip in the number of flights as many had been staying home and avoiding travel due to the case spike and lockdown.

In June last year, after being hit by the first wave of COVID-19, the number of flights at the Chennai airport stood at 60-65 a day, dropping from 500 flights early last year before the pandemic struck. But as months progressed, it grew to 200 flights a day. However, last week, after a year, as COVID-19 cases spiked and a lockdown was imposed, the number of flights has dropped to 65-70 a day again. Officials of the Airports Authority of India (AAI) said from last month, there had been consistent dip in the number of flights as many had been staying home and avoiding travel due to the case spike and lockdown. By April end, there were nearly 180-190 flights a day and nearly 14,000-15,000 passengers were travelling on a daily basis. “But this has come down to 60-70 flights a day and now, we have about 2,500 passengers a day. People are mostly travelling only for medical emergencies or death or wedding purposes. This is good because people shouldn’t venture out unless it is extremely important,” an official said.