Thiruvananthapuram airport continue to spread its wings, clocks 25 lakh footfall in first half of FY 2024-25

New daily domestic flight to be launched to Pune from October 28 and one to Ahmedabad from December 2, with four daily flights in a week. Also, Jazeera Airways will restart its Kuwait service from October 28 with one weekly flight initially

Amid the shadow of hiking user development fee by the Airport Economic Regulatory Authority (AERA) at Thiruvananthapuram International Airport by 50%, the airport continues to spread its wings by setting new benchmarks in passenger handling and by launching new services to various destinations.

As per the latest figures, the airport handled a total of 24.8 lakh passengers in the first half of the current fiscal, registering a growth of 17.4% compared to the passenger volume of 21.1 lakh in the first half of the last fiscal.

Of the total passenger volume, domestic passengers continue to surpass the passenger movement through the international terminal, with domestic flyers accounting for 12.9 lakh compared to 11.8 lakh on international routes during the first half of the fiscal. So is the case with the air traffic movements. A total of 8,556 domestic air traffic movements were recorded during this period, while international movements were 7,537 in this period, an increase of 13.8% compared to the previous fiscal.

Preferred destinations

Among the destinations, Abu Dhabi, Sharjah, and Dubai maintained the top position as the preferred international destinations, while Bengaluru, Chennai, and Mumbai retained their positions as the top three domestic destinations. Among the airlines, Air India Express, Indigo, and Air Arabia have emerged as the top airlines.

Meanwhile, a new daily domestic flight would be launched to Pune to cater to the frequent flyers on the route. The timing of the new flight to be operated by IndiGo from October 28 will be beneficial to techies who work in Thiruvananthapuram and Pune. In addition, another direct flight to Ahmedabad would be launched on December 2 with four daily flights in a week with a focus on domestic tourism as there is steady traffic of pilgrims from Gujarat to Thiruvananthapuram.

Further, Jazeera Airways will restart its Kuwait service from Thiruvananthapuram on October 28 with one weekly flight initially. Talks are underway with the airport authorities and Air India for launching two weekly services to Gatwick and Heathrow in the UK during the winter schedule, according to airline sources.

The user development fee increase with domestic and international passengers who have to shell out ₹770 and ₹1,540 (excluding taxes) till March 2025 and subsequent planned increases in financial years 2026 and 27 had kicked up a storm in the State. However, the airport is expanding its operations supported by the increased passenger patronage.

Published - October 23, 2024 07:14 pm IST