Kochi Tops in International Traffic International traffic grows at jet speed

Nirbhay Kumar & Vishakha Talreja
NEW DELHI
Courtesy: The Economic Times – 6/8/08

SOARING crude price may have hiked tariffs and pushed passenger traffic in the domestic aviation sector into the negative growth orbit, but it has failed to dent the morale of international air travellers. According to government data, international traffic continued to grow at a healthy clip during April-June, touching 20% in some airports like Kochi. International traffic from Chennai increased 13.3% while the busy Delhi airport witnessed a 8% growth. In comparison, domestic traffic across the country witnessed a negative growth in June. In the case of Chennai airport, domestic traffic declined by 5.24% during April-June while Delhi managed to stay in the positive turf with 8% growth.
“Even if the overall growth in the sector has stunted due to high cost of flying, airfare on international routes has significantly moderated. Airlines might have effected an increase in fuel surcharge due to soaring jet fuel price, but overall fares have remained more or less the same,” Singapore Airlines spokesperson said.
While capacity in the domestic sector has been cut 15%, international carriers have almost maintained their capacity on the routes connecting India. Lufthansa, Cathay Pacific and Qatar Airways are planing to increase their flights to India.
“Trade and commerce activities between India and the Middle-East has been growing. This means more and more people flying between the two points. In fact, supply is lower than the demand on India-Gulf sectors. If we have more opportunity to fly in terms of traffic rights we would further expand our operation in India. There is significant growth on India-Middle-East sector as compared to Europe and other countries in Asia Pacific,” Etihad Airways vice-president (communication) Iain Burns said.
Domestic air traffic has dipped significantly, thanks to increasing fuel surcharge and airlines withdrawing capacity from short-haul sectors. For the first time in three years, domestic traffic declined 4% in June. Domestic carriers flew 35.6-lakh passengers in June as against 36.5 lakh during the same period last year.
Says CAPA India head Kapil Kaul: “Going forward, in Q2 domestic traffic will dip by 10-15% whereas international will register modest growth. International traffic will witness this growth as Jet Airways and Air India Express are expanding and also Kingfisher will start flying on international routes. The international traveller is insulated from fare hike and double digit inflation. At the same time, owing to airfare increase, domestic traffic, especially on short-haul sectors such as Delhi-Mumbai has been affected.”

Etihad launches flights to Chennai

ETIHAD Airways, the national airline of the UAE, recently launched daily flight services from Abu Dhabi to Chennai, taking its number of Indian destinations to six, reports Our Bureau from Chennai. The airline has already been flying to Delhi and Mumbai.