BENGALURU: In heartening news on the domestic air traffic front, Kempegowda International Airport is connecting Bengaluru to more destinations across India than in pre-Covid time. Air travel to non-metro cities, in particular, is showing a positive trend. Airport operator Bangalore International Airport Limited (BIAL) said KIA now connects 61 destinations across the country, compared to 58 destinations earlier. The additions are Jorhat (IndiGo), Gorakhpur (IndiGo) and Jharsuguda (SpiceJet) that commenced operations in January 2021, a release said.
BIAL cites renewed confidence among passengers on hygiene and safety of air travel, contributing to a significant increase in passenger traffic to non-metro cities. "A daily average of 270 flights, carrying an average of 30,000 passengers per day, departed to non-metro cities in January 2021," it said. There has been a three-fold increase in transfer passengers, it added.
The airport is driving growth in the region, with an increase in non-metro passengers from 55% in fiscal year 2019-2020 to 64% in 2020-21. Bengaluru airport will soon connect to five new destinations - Rajkot, Durgapur (SpiceJet) and Dibrugarh (IndiGo) this month, followed by Agra and Kurnool in March. Thirteen new routes launched for the fiscal year 2020-21 include Silchar, Darbhanga, Amritsar, Nashik and Jabalpur.