Delhi Airport sees gradual growth in passenger numbers in August, 5 times more than May 2021

The government's decision to enable airlines to operate up to 72.5 per cent of their total domestic capacity resulted in a gradual increase in passenger traffic.

According to a GMR White Paper, Delhi Airport has experienced a modest increase in passenger counts in accordance with the recovery in air travel demand, with about 90,000 people passing through the facility each day during the first ten days of this month. It is five times the number of passengers handled by Delhi Airport in mid-May, when it handled approximately 18,000 passengers per day. According to the White Paper, by the end of June 2021, the number would have grown to over 62,000 passengers each day.

Domestic traffic is projected to approach pre-COVID levels by the end of FY23, according to GMR, as the COVID situation improves and vaccination rates rise. However, given the current scenario, foreign traffic might only reach pre-COVID levels by FY24. The airport handled around 2.29 million passengers in July, which is 60 per cent less than the 5.80 million passengers in the same month in 2019. According to the White Paper, air traffic movements in July were also 45 per cent lower at 20,800 compared to 37,700 in July 2019.

People felt the need to travel to their respective homes/base locations once the severe impact of the second COVID wave subsided, thereby pushing the passenger numbers. An increase in numbers was also observed due to a slight pickup in business travel demand.

The government's decision to enable airlines to operate up to 72.5 per cent of their total domestic capacity resulted in a gradual increase in passenger traffic. Rising capacity, along with the launch of additional routes, enabled airlines to handle increased passenger traffic. With the beginning of the holiday season, Delhi Airport saw an increase in domestic travel.