With the travel ban imposed by all Gulf Cooperation Council countries on Indian nationals and restrictions in place in India as well, the Calicut International Airport almost wears a deserted look.
The newly inaugurated international terminal appears to be shut down with the airline companies slashing international flights. “Sixteen international arrivals and 17 international departures were cancelled on Friday,” Airport Director K. Srinivasa Rao said.
Flights to Qatar, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia have already been cancelled. However, flights are operating to Oman, United Arab Emirates, and Bahrain. The arrivals are Indian nationals. Of course, the departures are experiencing low occupancy following the ban on entry to GCC countries except their citizens. Some flights have taken off with even four passengers, “ he said.
The Calicut airport, which is the seventh top international airport in terms of actual passenger throughput, has seen a huge drop in volume of passengers from March 1. Normally the airport operates 60 international movements (arrivals and departures) and eight domestic flights daily.
The average flights per day was 26.84 during the March 1-December 31, 2019 period and it was 21.84 from March 1-19, 2020. The average passengers per day for arrival and departure combined for both international and domestic were 9,782. 81 before COVID-19 pandemic and 7.391.20 after the pandemic.
Mr. Rao said the real picture about the decline in passengers volume would emerge in the coming days. From Sunday, India has barred all international flights for a week. Domestic airlines are also cancelling flights either due to low occupancy or flights operating to Gulf destinations via Indian airports.
