Air traffic dips 35 per cent on Nagpur-Mumbai route
28 Jul 2008
Nagpur: Airport Authority of India's (AAI) latest figures reveal that traffic on the Nagpur-Mumbai sector, the busiest one from this central Indian city, has dropped nearly 35% since June 2008. The loss of traffic may be attributed to the impact that rising jet fuel costs are having on the aviation sector across the country.
According to AAI figures, the number of passengers travelling daily between the two cities has dipped to 650 this month as compared to about 1000 last month.
This sector has seen a phenomenal rise in services being offered, with just two carriers, Indian Airlines and Jet Airways operating the Nagpur-Mumbai sector in 2002. The number of operators has now grown to five - Air India (domestic), Jet Airways, Kingfisher, Deccan and IndiGo.
Most of these services have been reporting passenger load factors of above 80%.
While Kingfisher has discontinued operations, Jet Airways has suspended its evening flights because of poor load factors. Passengers are reverting to train travel as air fares begin to go through the roof.
