During the months of November and December, the Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose International Airport in Kolkata witnessed a surge in international passenger traffic, with a footfall exceeding four lakh, The Indian Express reported. This marks the highest number for this time frame in the past three years. The report added that the officials said the airport will be seeing a heavy rush of passengers in the coming days due to New Year celebrations.
“Due to New Year celebrations and December 31 being a Sunday, the footfall will rise in the next two days,” an official was quoted as saying in the report.
What figures were recorded by the Kolkata airport?
In November, the international terminal documented 2,00,286 passengers, while in December, the count rose to 2,06,645 passengers, the report cited sources as saying. Consequently, the cumulative tally of international passengers at Kolkata airport reached 4,06,931 by December 27, 2023. Recent figures indicate that on December 23, a total of 7,123 international passengers arrived and departed from the Kolkata airport.
A senior airport official said that November and December have been the best performing months with the number of international passengers being the highest in the past three years. They added that COVID-19 significantly impacted the aviation sector and that the substantial footfall observed post-pandemic represents positive indicators for the aviation industry.
Authorities mentioned that the current count of international passengers traveling to and from Kolkata airport is slightly below the record set in 2019, which marked the highest footfall before the onset of COVID-19.
In 2021, the Kolkata Airport witnessed the travel of 88,318 passengers, marking a notable increase from the 40,407 passengers recorded in 2020. The highest pre-pandemic footfall was noted in 2019 when a total of 5,88,756 international passengers traveled to and from the Kolkata airport.