After witnessing a sharp increase in passenger arrivals during March and April, there has been a dip in traveller footfalls at the Srinagar International Airport this month.
As per official data, the daily passenger arrivals at the Srinagar Airport have reduced to just 2200 to 2500 from a whopping 6000 to 8000 witnessed during March and April.
“The number of daily flights which had increased between 40 to 45 in April, has now reduced to just 21 to 23. In the first week of May, we have even had days when there was arrival of just 14 flights,” said Director, Airports Authority of India, Srinagar, Santosh Dhoke.
Air traffic across the country had witnessed a hiatus of three months between March and May 2020 owing to the outbreak of Covid-19. However, thanks to tourism activity- both the number of flights and passenger arrivals had seen an increase over the last one year.
Soon after air traffic was resumed on May 5, 2020, 61 flights had arrived at Srinagar Airport. However, the month with the highest number of flight and passenger arrivals was April this year when a record 1077 flights touched down at the tarmac of the Srinagar Airport ferrying as many as 80630 passengers. Prior to this, the onset of the Tulip festival had attracted tourists in large numbers and as a result 1064 flights carrying 1.10 lakh passengers arrived at the Srinagar Airport during March.
It may be mentioned that as many as 2429 travellers at the Srinagar International Airport had tested positive for Covid-19 during April this year, making it the month with highest reported cases at the airport in the last one year. The second highest number of positive cases at the airport was reported in March with 896 passengers having tested positive. Passengers arriving at the Srinagar Airport have to undergo a mandatory Covid-19 test.
In terms of the positivity rate at Srinagar Airport, 52 positive Covid-19 cases were reported from the airport in May, 2020 while as in June 135 cases, July 234 cases, August 602, September 793 cases, October 399, November 378 positive cases and December 268 cases were reported from the Srinagar Airport. In January this year 303 cases and in February 557 positive cases were reported from the airport.
The boom in tourism since December, 2020 had seen a footfall of almost 11 lakh passengers between November 2020 and March 2021. The terminal building, where the passengers check-in and check-out, and the apron area, where an aircraft is parked are controlled by the AAI. Earlier this week, passengers in large numbers were seen violating the Covid19 SOP and guidelines at Srinagar International Airport. Many of the passengers were seen without the mandatory face masks.