Bhubaneswar: Passenger traffic from the Biju Patnaik International Airport increased 33.5 per cent between April-January of the ongoing fiscal year. During this period, the airport handled 34.73 lakh domestic and international passengers.
According to the latest Airport Authority of India figures, 26.01 lakh passengers had used the airport during the corresponding period of the last fiscal.
In January 2019 alone, the airport handled 3.76 lakh passengers, a growth of 11.7 per cent over the corresponding month last year.
Between the April-January period, 81,595 flew to international destinations, which was a 12.8 per cent growth over the same period last fiscal.
As far as domestic passengers are concerned, 33.91 lakh passengers were handled by the airport, which was 34.1 per cent higher than the corresponding period of the previous year.
Only Varanasi was the other major airport which eclipsed the growth rate of the city airport. This, however, does not include the big five metro airports.
The Centre in December last year had decided to expand the city airport with the construction of a third terminal, the foundation stone of which was laid by Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan on February 23. The third terminal will be constructed at an estimated cost of Rs 935 crore.
