Indore (Madhya Pradesh): With the decrease in the number of corona cases in the city and in the country, the fear of the pandemic has started receding from the minds of the populace. The number of air passengers has started increasing once again. It is estimated that, from March, normal flights will be restored.
The daily number of air passengers has been increasing over the past few days. Earlier, around 30 flights were being cancelled daily, but, now, this number has come down to around 20. At the same time, the daily number of passengers, which had come down to fewer than 3,000 per day, has now started crossing 5,000 per day.
Airport sources said that the third wave of corona came in late-December 2021. Its effects were visible in a big way from January onwards. The aviation industry was one most affected by this. In December, more than 66 flights were operating daily, but there was a huge drop in the number of flights and passengers in January. Compared to December, 44% of the passengers and 26% of the flights were reduced in the last month. The number of passengers per day dropped to about 3,000 till the early days of February.
However, now, once again, the number of flights and passengers from the city has started increasing. Sources said that, in just the past two days, the number passengers per day has reached about 5,500 and the number of flights operated has risen to between 45 and 50 per day. The number of flights cancelled daily has also come down. Sources are hoping that the situation will improve further in the coming days and passenger and flight numbers will be more than in December in the month of March.
‘Situation will be normal by March’
‘Owing to the third wave of corona in the country, there was a significant reduction in the number of passengers and flights in January. As the effects of the third wave are decreasing, operation of flights and movement of the passengers have once again started to increase. It’s expected that the situation will return to normal by March’ — Ramesh Kumar, airport director
