Even as passengers in big cities are avoiding travelling by air, travellers from smaller cities have shown preference for flying over other modes of travel.

The air travel data between April and December of the current fiscal show that smaller airports in the country have registered an increase in the total number of domestic passengers while airports in larger cities are seeing a decline.

Data compiled by the Airports Authority of India (AAI) show that 17 large international airports have registered a decline during the period. Of the 17 airports, six are private airports that include Delhi and Mumbai and have registered the highest decline of 8.6 per cent followed by 11 other international airports that has seen a decline of 4.5 per cent as per a report in FE.

Smaller airports’ increase in domestic passengers, however, did not help the overall numbers from falling. “The growth from smaller airports are coming after SpiceJet started connecting these airports through their 70-seater Bombardier Q400s. Also, these airports have a lower base in terms of number of passengers and one is not certain about their growth in the future and also viability of these airports,” said Kapil Kaul, CEO, India, of Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation, an aviation consultancy firm.

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