TBM Staff - Mumbai As per data from the Airports Authority of India (AAI), Tier-II cities like Ahmedabad, Srinagar, Chandigarh, Patna, Nagpur, Darbhanga, Jammu, Dehradun, Kochi, Ranchi, Raipur and Udaipur have registered a decline in domestic passenger during the first three months of 2024.
The bigger city airports continue to register an increase in passenger footfalls.
The data also indicates that it is the first time in the last five years that the domestic passengers at Tier-II airports have declined.
Prominent figures involved in the aviation sector say that the primary reason for this trend is airlines shifting capacities from smaller towns to Tier-I cities.
Airlines being grounded and pruning of planes has only compounded this problem.
Go First was grounded in May last year due to engine issues while at least 100 planes of market leader IndiGo were grounded too due to similar issues.
Go First filed for insolvency last year saying they were not able to run operations due to lack of plane engines.
Simultaneously, the country has also been undergoing various mergers as well, Vistara is legally expected to merge with Air India soon.
AirAsia India and Air India Express have been merged to become AIX Connect. (Source: HT)
