Air traffic showing steady growth since 2010: minister

Air traffic in India, measured in terms of aircraft movement and passenger traffic, has increased during the last three years. However, year-on-year growth in freight traffic witnessed negative growth.

The total aircraft movements and passengers have recorded a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 3.3 per cent and 5.6 per cent, respectively, whereas freight movement has declined by 1 per cent during FY 2010-11 to FY 2013-14.

In the current financial year (April-May 2014) aircraft movements, passengers and freight traffic has increased by 5 per cent, 5 per cent and 9.9 per cent, respectively, over traffic handled during (April-May) 2013-14.

Airports Authority of India (AAI) has estimated that traffic at all Indian airports, taken together in terms of aircraft movements, passenger and freight, are expected to grow at the rate of 4.2 per cent, 5.3 per cent and 5 per cent, respectively, for the next five years.

Giving this information in the Lok Sabha today, minister of state for civil aviation, GM Siddeshwara also stated that the number of passengers carried by domestic airlines during January-May 2014 stood at 26.72 million against 26.00 million during the corresponding period of previous year, recording a growth of 2.78 per cent.

Total number of passengers carried by scheduled domestic carriers in the year 2011, 2012, 2013 and corresponding traffic growth is given below:

The number of passengers carried by domestic airlines increased from 52 million in the year 2010 to 60.70 million (up 16.7 per cent) in 2011 and 58.80 million in 2012 (down 3.04 per cent) and further rose to 4.77 per cent in 2013.

The minister also stated that the government has identified 50 new locations for setting up small airports.

These include Kadapa, Tirupati, Vijayawada, Warangal in Andhra Pradesh; Along, Daparizo, Pasighat, Tezu in Arunachal Pradesh; Jorhat, Rupsi, Silchar in Assam; Gaya and Raxaul in Bihar; Bilaspur and Raigarh in Chattisgarh; Daman & Diu, Bhawanagar, Jamnagar, Kandla and Keshod in Gujarat; Hisar and Karnal in Haryana; Kishtwar in J&K; Deoghar and Jamshedpur in Jharkhand; Belgaum and Hubli in Karnataka; Gwalior, Jabalpur and Rewa in Madhya Pradesh; Akola, Amravati, Jalgaon, Kolhapur and Solapur in Maharashtra; Jharsuguda in Odisha; Ludhiana in Punjab; Bikaner, Kishangarh and Kota in Rajasthan; Thanjavore in Tamil Nadu and Agra, Allahabad, Bareilly, Faizabad, Kanpur, Meerut, Moradabad and Saharanpur in Uttar Pradesh.