The return of Covid 19 with the new variant Omicron coupled with cold waves and bad weather has resulted in the lesser footfall of passengers at the Birsa Munda Domestic Airport.
Three flights remained suspended on Thursday namely Delhi-Ranchi-Delhi of Vistara, Kolkata-Ranchi-Kolkata of Indigo and Bengaluru-Chennai-Ranchi of Air Asia.
In the last one-month the number of flights departing from this airport has reduced from 30 to 24 and at the same time, the number of passengers too has decreased. Earlier, the footfall exceeded 4000 plus which is now around 2000. On January 5, a total of 26 flights operated from Birsa Munda airport to different destinations namely Delhi, Mumbai, Hyderabad, Bhuvneshwar, Kolkata, Chennai, Ahmedabad, Bengaluru and Hyderabad. A total of 2574 passengers alighted in Ranchi and 2192 passengers boarded from Ranchi for different destinations.
On January 4, as many as 24 flights had operated and 5249 passengers travelled. On January 3, the number of flights was 26 and a record number of passengers 6124 travelled. This downward trend was observed on Tuesday when 23 flights operated from Ranchi. A total of 3005 passengers checked out of Birsa Munda airport whereas 2688 passengers took flight from Ranchi. Sources in airport said that the fluctuation in total number of flights and passengers started reporting from mid of December last year. The highest number of flights, 31, of this session with the highest number of passengers, 8738, was recorded on December 12.
But sudden fall in the number of flights and passengers have brought a slowdown in the aviation industry. Airport sources said that it may be a temporary fall affected by reasons like people avoiding travelling due to the new Covid 19 variant. Besides, the marriage session is over which coupled with poor weather also might have affected aviation sector.
The year-end is normally considered a booming period for the travel and tourism industry owing to Christmas and the New year’s celebration. But it remained dull this time.