811K fliers travelled to 13 leisure places between July and Sept: Mumbai airport

Mumbai’s Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport (CSMIA) caters to 13 leisure places, among which Goa saw the maximum passenger traffic, followed by Jaipur and Chandigarh

Making the most of the decline in the Covid-19 cases in the country, 811,000 people travelled to 13 leisure destinations between July and September from Mumbai. The city’s Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport (CSMIA) caters to 13 leisure places, among which Goa saw the maximum passenger traffic, followed by Jaipur and Chandigarh.

CSMIA recorded a significant uptick in passenger traffic in the international sector too. According to airport data, the Mumbai-Male route has emerged as one of the top international destinations for Indians and witnessed a rise in passenger traffic to a total of 31,051 via CSMIA in the past 60 days, since the reopening of the route. (HT FILE PHOTO FOR REPRESENTATION)

According to CSMIA data, 140,460 passengers departed to Goa, while 136,332 arrived from the state to Mumbai in the three months. Jaipur saw around 130,000 passengers (64,432 arriving and 65,756 departing fliers) and Chandigarh saw 127,000 (65,173 arriving and 62,296 departing) passengers from July to September.

The leisure destination cities connected by CSMIA include Goa, Jaipur, Chandigarh, Udaipur, Jammu/Srinagar, Prayagraj, Amritsar, Jodhpur, Dehradun, Leh, Tirupati and Diu.

According to CSMIA’s internal data, 9,006 flights operated to the 13 leisure destinations between July and September in 2019 which fell to only 1,744 flights in 2020 due to the Covid-19 pandemic. As a result of the pandemic, the total number of passengers who flew to these leisure destinations fell from 1,319,000 to 178,000.

CSMIA recorded a significant uptick in passenger traffic in the international sector too. According to airport data, the Mumbai-Male route has emerged as one of the top international destinations for Indians and witnessed a rise in passenger traffic to a total of 31,051 via CSMIA in the past 60 days, since the reopening of the route.

With 46,008 of arrival and 65,275 of departure passengers, the figures, according to the city airport officials, point towards continued interest of the Indian travellers for Maldives as the preferred international destination.

“With a total of 31,051 passengers travelling to and from Male from July till October 12, August alone witnessed passenger traffic of around 24,780, the highest since the beginning of the commencement of the Air Bubble agreement with Maldives in October 2020,” the airport spokesperson concluded.