With the Uttarakhand government easing restrictions on the entry of tourists following Unlock-4 and Unlock-5 guidelines, the domestic air traffic at Dehradun’s Jolly Grant airport has shot up substantially.
Officials at the Jolly Grant airport say that they handled as many as 18,848 passengers — both inbound and outbound — in the last fortnight (from September 19 to October 3) as compared to 14,404 passengers in the first fortnight, witnessing a rise of over 30%.
According to DK Gautam, director of Jolly Grant airport, “The rise in passenger footfall is a direct result of relaxation in travelling restrictions by the state government. We estimate that the numbers are going to increase further due to the upcoming festive season.”
Out of the total 18,848 domestic air passengers, 10,120 were arrival passengers while the remaining 8,728 were departure passengers, airport officials said.
The official added, “While 258 flights operated from Doon airport in the first fortnight last month, the number of flights increased to 282 in the last fortnight.” On October 3, Dehradun airport handled the maximum of 1,943 passengers after the easing of norms in Uttarakhand. “Earlier, we were handling around 1,000 passengers on a daily basis but the footfall has increased to 1,800-1,900 daily passengers now. On October 6 as well, the airport witnessed 1,889 domestic air passengers,” according to the airport director.
