Darbhanga Airport sees uptick in traffic; Slated to witness highest-ever number of flights, passengers in July

Darbhanga Airport: The Darbhanga Airport in Bihar has been witnessing a continuous increase in the passenger traffic. On Tuesday, the Airport Authority of India, via its official Twitter account, shared that the growth being witnessed by the airport is impressive, adding that on July 18, i.e. on Sunday, as many as 2,855 passengers travelled from the airport. On that day, 18 flights departed from the Darbhanga Airport. AAI added that the airport had been witnessing “record passenger footfall” since it started its commercial operations on November 8 last year.

As per the numbers shared by the Darbhanga Airport, the airport handled 70 arriving flights carrying a total of 12,648 incoming passengers in November. In the same month, in 70 departure flights, the airport handled 12,185 outbound passengers. The number of arriving and departing flights increased in December to 76, and the total number of passengers, both inbound and outbound, increased to 26,318, registering an increase of about 1,500 over the previous month.

In January, the number of flights as well as total number of passengers dipped, with flights going down to total 132 (66 each for arriving and departing), and total passengers handled dipped to 20,420. In February, number of flights increased to 107 each side, and the passengers handled reached 35,888, and this number only continued to increase in March, when the flights operated were 151 each side and the Darbhanga Airport handled a total of 45,773 passengers, which is the highest number at the airport so far.

In April, while the number of passengers declined to 42,035, likely due to the fact that the second wave had started picking pace, the number of flights the airport operated reached 160 each side. Both the number of flights and the number of passengers dipped in May amid the severe second wave, with passengers handled going down to a little over 30,000. The operations at the airport, however, again picked up in June, when a total of 378 flights (189 each side) were operated, carrying a total of 43,798 passengers.

The airport also gave figures till July 15, when it crossed the figure of 3 lakh in terms of the passengers it handled. Between July 1 and 15, 124 flights each side were operated, and a total of 32,293 passengers were handled by the Darbhanga Airport.

By July 20, the airport had handled 167 flights each side, and at this rate, July could become the month with the most number of flights the airport has handled. Apart from that, by Tuesday, the airport handled 45,299 passengers this month, getting very close to the highest number of passengers it has handled in a month, and it could overtake that figure soon, as well.

Since it began operations in November last year, the Darbhanga Airport has handled a total of 2,254 flights as on Tuesday. Moreover, the airport has now handled a total of 3,14,519 passengers.