HYDERABAD: The average domestic passengers travelling per day from Rajiv Gandhi International Airport (RGIA), Hyderabad, rose from 22,500 in July to 31,137 in September, marking a rise of 38.29 per cent in Q3, according to the White Paper released by the GMR Hyderabad International Airport Limited (GHIAL) on Monday, October 11, 2021.
The domestic passenger recovery of the airport was the highest among all airports in metropolitan cities during the July-August (Q3) period, it added. With increased connectivity to 65 domestic destinations as compared to 55 in the pre-Covid days, flyers from the capital city of Telangana preferred travelling to New Delhi, Mumbai and Bengaluru. In September, the airport witnessed a surge of domestic traffic and saw 9.35 lakh domestic passengers as compared to 6.8 lakh passengers in July, reaching upto 62 per cent of the pre-Covid levels.
RGIA also witnessed a gradual increase in international travellers. Dubai, Doha and Sharjah were the most preferred destinations among international travellers. Getting 41 per cent of the traffic witnessed in the pre-Covid period, the airport saw a traffic of 1.2 lakh passengers per month. Overall, the total passenger traffic footfall (domestic and international) reached 59 per cent of the pre-Covid levels in September.
On Saturday, the RGIA recorded the highest (domestic and international) passenger footfall in a day with nearly 48,000 passengers and 350 Air Traffic Movements in the airport, which is 77 per cent of the pre-Covid numbers.