Air passenger traffic at five airports in Madhya Pradesh go up 23%; deck cleared for international flights at Indore Airport

Indore: Air passenger traffic across five airports in Madhya Pradesh spiked 23 percent to 42.83 lakh in the last fiscal over the financial year ended March 2017-2018 amid rising connectivity with different parts of the country, as per AAI data. [caption id=“attachment_4478895” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Representational image. AFP.[/caption] According to the AAI data, a total of 42,83 people travelled from five airports—Indore, Bhopal, Jabalpur, Khajuraho and Gwalior—during the last financial year as compared with 32.89 air passengers in 2017-18. The growth was highest at the Indore Airport among the five airports which saw a whopping 74 percent increase in passenger traffic to31.58 lakh during the previous fiscal. The capital city Bhopal’s Raja Bhoj airport saw 8.09 lakh passengers flying in and out of the aerodrome during the period while passenger traffic at Jabalpur’s Damna airport stood at 2.40 lakh in the reporting year, as per data. Meanwhile, the Union Home Ministry has cleared the decks for setting up of immigration counters at the AAO-run Indore’s Devi Ahilyabai Holkar Airport here, paving the way for international flight operations from here, a senior airport official said.

“After the Gazette notification of the Union Home Ministry on 27 May, our airport is prepared for the first international passenger flight. We have already got the requisite approvals for the operation of international flight,” said Aryama Sanyal, director Indore Airport.

Sanyal said that Air India has already submitted a proposal to connect Indore with Sharjah with a direct daily flight, adding the airline is expected to make an announcement soon about the commencement of the new flight after taking necessary approvals. Meanwhile, the Secretary of Travel Agents Association of India (TAAI), Madhya Pradesh-Chhattisgarh, Hemendra Singh Jadaun told PTI on Sunday, “In the last one year, new flights have been started from different cities of Madhya Pradesh for the different destinations like Chennai, Jaipur, Hyderabad, Bengaluru, Vadodara, Chandigarh, among others”.