Just as the country is coming to terms and beating the pandemic, Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport (CSMIA) has reported a tremendous increase in passenger traffic in June 2021 as compared to May this year. With the ease of restrictions of various states, the increase in passenger traffic signals, which is almost 60 per cent, shows passenger confidence and indicates that things are going back to normalcy.
In a press statement, the airport authority said that the CSMIA has played host to a total of approximately 72,61,158 passengers over 77,797 flights across domestic and international destinations in the period of the first six months of 2021. During this time, the airport has catered to approximately 64,87,066 domestic passengers across 63,992 flights and over 7,74,092 international passengers across 13,805 ATMs.
The airport registered Dubai as emerging as the most popular international destination, having witnessed the highest traffic of over 2,13,770 passengers to and from CSMIA, the statement further read. This was followed by Newark with over 88,010 and Heathrow with 75,470 passengers respectively. Similarly, amongst the domestic destinations, Delhi saw the highest movements with over 9,46,890 passengers, followed by Goa with 5,42,350 and Bengaluru with 4,32,180 passengers respectively.
The CSMIA currently acts as a gateway to 54 domestic destinations and 21 international destinations for passengers from Mumbai. There were also a few additions of new routes on domestic destinations like Dharbhanga, Adampur and Kalaburagi amongst others as well as international destinations like Batam, Armenia, Miami and Houston.
While the passenger traffic is increasing steadily, the majority of Indian states, as well as international countries, require a negative RT-PCR certificate. To make the passenger travel hassle-free, the CSMIA has established over 30 counters of testing facilities at Terminal 2 set up for international and domestic passengers. For passengers wanting a quicker result, the CSMIA has a facility for an express test that provides prompt & accurate diagnosis in 13 minutes.
Moreover, CSMIA has set up the RT-PCR testing counter on the premises to facilitate the processing of the sample for a quick turnaround. The additional facility has been introduced for convenience and offering a speedy report to the arriving passengers.
