THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The number of domestic passengers passing through Thiruvananthapuram Airport has doubled in the past six months. The airport handled 1.31 lakh passengers in April 2022. This is an increase from the 60,145 passengers in October last year, says officials of the the airport. The number of domestic passengers in March was 97,633 while the April figure was 1,31,274. Airlines such as Indigo, Air India, Spice Jet and Vistara are currently operating services from Thiruvananthapuram to destinations including Kochi, Kannur, Chennai, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Pune, Mumbai, Durgapur and New Delhi.
Bengaluru is the busiest destination with 35 weekly services. This is followed by Chennai with 22 services weekly, Delhi with 20 services and Mumbai with 15 services a week. The Indigo tops the table with 98 services a week. With an increase in the number of international and domestic air services, passengers have started choosing Thiruvananthapuram airport over others, said a source from the airport.
The crowd that earlier preferred the airport in Kochi has started coming to Thiruvananthapuram now, the source said. “The increase in the number of services has made air travel affordable and has increased connectivity. Earlier, there was a time when we used to have only one daily flight to Bengaluru. Now it has increased to five on a daily basis.
It has lowered the travel prices too. Travellers in Kollam, Pathanamthitta and Kanyakumari and Nagercovil who preferred to go to Kochi have started choosingThiruvananthapuram Airport,” said the source. The new flight service to Durgapur in West Bengal has also attracted a lot of travellers. “The flight service was aimed at guest workers and apart from them, we are getting regular passengers as well,” said the source. The number of passengers and air traffic movement at the airport had increased significantly during the summer schedule. The number of international passengers also increased to 1.3 lakh in April, said the source.