Rajamahendravaram airport fares better despite pandemic

Visakhapatnam: WHEN compared to the financial year 2019-20 regarding the number of passenger travelled and aircraft flown from the airports in Andhra Pradesh, tche airports have reported below 50 per cent of their operations during 2020-21 due to the severity of Covid-19 pandemic with Rajamahendramavaram, a tier-two city, emerging as an exception.

During 2019-20, Visakhapatnam registered passengers numbering (both domestic and international) 26.81 lakh. Vijayawada 11.30 lakh, Rajamahendravaram 4.09 lakh and Tirupati 8.34 lakh. The figure fell during Covid-hit 2020-21 to 11.13 lakh in Visakhapatnam, 5.07 lakh in Vijayawada, 2.04 lakh in Rajamahendravaram and 3.52 lakh in Tirupati. During the same period, the four cities respectively accounted for 42, 45, 50 and 42 per cent of air travellers compared to 2019-20 visavis 2020-21.

Visakhapatnam witnessed operation of 20,935 flights followed by 15,242 in Vijayawada, 9,686 in Rajamahendravaram and 9,699 in Tirupati during 2019-20. The number slashed to 10,671, 7,423, 5,682 and 4,612 in that order in the following year, according to statistics sourced from Airport Authority of India by Andhra Pradesh Air Travellers' Association (APATA). Among all the airports, Rajamahandravaram was able to achieve the highest 59 per cent of flights compared to 2019-20.

While Rajamahendravaram and Tirupati generally do not handle cargo, Visakhapatnam and Vijayawada airports had moved cargo weighing 5,536 and 2,129 tonne during 2019-20, which reduced to respectively 3,778 and 1989 tonnes in 2020-21.