The Hindu Business Line : Domestic air traffic up by 46.5 pc in May

The number of passengers travelling by air within the country grew by 46.5 per cent during May this year as compared to the same period in the previous year.

The latest data complied by the Airports Authority of India (AAI) shows that domestic airlines transported 5.85 million passengers (4 million).

No-frill airlines

The high growth is mainly attributed to the "contribution of the new traffic generated by the no-frill airlines", AAI said. Among the airports that reported a substantial increase in the number of domestic passengers include Thiruvananthapuram that recorded a growth of 87.3 per cent, Hyderabad (71.2 per cent), Bangalore (67 per cent), Coimbatore (64.8 per cent) and Chennai (57.1 per cent).

The international passenger traffic handled by the airports during May this year registered a growth of 15.7 per cent at 1.99 million passengers (1.72 million).

International traffic

The increase in international passenger traffic has been mainly attributed to not only to the availability of low international airfare , but also better international linkages of Indian traffic with world traffic.

In percentage terms, the airports that saw an increase in international passenger traffic during May this year as compared to the same period in the previous year include Bangalore (52.5 per cent), Coimbatore (41.5 per cent) and Cochin International Airport Ltd (30.7 per cent).