Despite the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, Cochin International Airport Limited (CIAL) has retained its position as the third busiest airport in the country throughout 2021.
According to the latest data released by the Airports Authority of India (AAI), CIAL said it ranked third in the country in terms of international traffic in December, a feat it has been enjoying since the beginning of last year.
CIAL said in a release, “As per the AAI data on International Traffic for the month of December 2021, Delhi airport has topped with 8,42,582 passengers and Mumbai airport retained its second position with 4,51,212. CIAL has registered 301,338 international passengers, during December 2021 while Chennai airport which is ranked fourth, handled 2,46,387 international passengers.
Cochin International Airport handled around 43,06,661 passengers for the whole year 2021. Of these, 18,69,690 were international passengers.
The passenger volume of CIAL has increased by about one million in 2021 as compared to 2020, the release said.
CIAL Managing Director S Suhas attributed the traffic growth to proactive measures taken by the management to attract more airlines.
“Despite the spike in COVID cases, CIAL has successfully managed to facilitate smooth traffic. Several measures were implemented to instil confidence in both passengers and other stakeholders. Direct to UK by Air India in the year 2021 Services have been resumed.” Suhas said.
Singapore Airlines commenced operations in December 2021 and we expect to be able to host services in the Kochi-Bangkok sector soon.
“Indian airports handled a total of 25.12 million passengers in December 2021, as compared to 23.23 million in November. There were 19.64 million passengers in October, 15.44 million in September and 14.26 million in August 2021,” the release said. Were.” ,
However, with the rapid spread of the Omicron version of COVID-19, the third wave of the pandemic has seen a slowdown in growth in air passenger traffic since late December.
India recorded 22.13 million domestic passengers in December, up from 20.72 million in November, while international passengers rose to 2.99 million from 2.51 million in the same period.
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