Bhubaneshwar, Feb 13: Odisha crossing the developmental marks every day. One of the fastest growing states in the country, Odisha’s Bhubaneshwar Airport now set to achieve another mark in the coming year.
Bhubaneshwar’s Biju Patnaik Airport, one of the fastest growing airport in India, is ready to cross the 4 million passenger volume mark in the upcoming year, as per the official report.
As per the data available till December 2018, the airport handled as many as 31, 19, 542 lakh passengers. Of which, 30, 45, 318 were domestic and 74,124 were international passengers.
The projected air traffic movement till March 2019 is 42, 87, 679 lakh, both domestic and international with a 32-42 percent growth rate compared to 2017-18.
the airport Director Hota said, “The increase in passenger traffic could be attributed to an increase in the number of flights and various national and international level events recently held in Bhubaneswar.”
At present, on an average 10, 000 passengers travel through the airport every day. The Bhubaneswar airport handles 49 arrivals and 49 departures daily.
As per the official report, the airport saw a robust 17 percent growth in international passenger traffic movement between April to December 2018. During this period, passenger traffic in this segment stood at 74,124 as against 63,386 during the corresponding period of 2017.
Established in 1962, the footfall from BPIA is more towards the South-East Asian countries like Thailand, Malaysia, apart from various parts of the country including Kolkata, Mumbai, New Delhi, Hyderabad, and Bengaluru. At present, Air India and AirAsia are the only two airlines operating flights from Bhubaneswar to Bangkok and Kuala Lumpur respectively.
At present, Terminal 1 (Domestic) of the airport is having the maximum peak hour passenger handling capacity of 800. Terminal 2 (International) has peak hour passenger handling capacity of 300.