NEW DELHI, Apr 27: The Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Thursday held a meeting with the Civil Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia to review traffic at airports in the country as airlines prepare for a busy summer season.
The agenda of the meeting was to discuss plans on how to ease traffic across various airports in the country as the aviation sector continues to grow and the demand is expected to surpass pre-pandemic levels, an official spokesman of the home ministry said. Along with Shah and Scindia, the meeting was attended by senior officials of the home ministry, the civil aviation minister, and the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF).
The focus will be on how to reduce the security check-in time at the airport, the official added. As per feedback received by the civil aviation ministry, various airlines say that the demand in the country’s aviation market continues to be high even during a lean travel season and despite an increase in airfares.
According to the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), the summer schedule, which is effective from March 26 to October 28, for domestic airlines has been finalized, with a total of 22,907 flights operating from 110 airports across the country.
“The DGCA has approved the flight roster, with a total of 22,907 departures per week, which is almost a 1,000-flight spike from the winter schedule of 21,941 flights,” explains an official. The summer schedule for domestic airlines in India is a reflection of the booming aviation sector in the country, an official said.
As per data from the country’s aviation watchdog DGCA, during January-March 2023, domestic airlines carried 375.04 lakh passengers as compared to 247.23 lakh last year in the same period, accounting for an annual growth of 51.70 per cent. With the addition of new airports and airlines expanding their fleets, the sector is poised for continued growth in the coming years.
(Manas Dasgupta)
