Domestic,
international sectors witness dip first time in 10 years
Chennai, May 9:
For the first
time in 10 years, cargo volume at the Chennai airport has dipped.
The drop was
witnessed in both domestic and international sectors in the just concluded
financial year.
In 2011-12,
there was an 8.14 per dip in cargo volume to 3.57 lakh tonnes compared with
3.88 lakh tonnes, the previous year.
Mr E.P.
Hareendranathan, Airport Director, attributes the drop to global economic
slowdown, poor demand from the US and Europe and the dollar appreciation.
Cargo revenues
in 2011-12 were flat at Rs 194 crore. “Major boost was supposed to have come
from cargo with the handling rates being revised. Despite this, cargo volumes
have dipped,” he said.
Mr J. Krishnan
of S. Natesa Iyer & Co, a leading freight forwarder in Chennai, said
traditional commodities such as textiles, garments and leather to traditional
markets such as the US and Europe have dropped last year.
Even during the
global recession period of 2008-09, there was a marginal increase in cargo
volume by 0.65 per cent.
Passenger
traffic
“Last year has
been the worst so far,” said an industry source.
After a spurt
in growth rate of passenger traffic in 2010-11 – in the immediate wake of
economic recovery – the growth rate quietened in 2011-12. Passenger traffic
grew a modest 7.3 per cent to 1.29 crore (43 lakh international; 86 lakh
domestic) against 1.20 crore the previous year.
While the
traffic in the domestic sector grew over 10 per cent, the international traffic
went up marginally by 1.47 per cent, according to Airports Authority of India
data.
“The number of
business travellers have come down,” said Mr Hareendranathan.
Total revenue
for the Chennai airport during 2011-12 increased to Rs 711 crore (Rs 693
crore).
Projections
Airports
Authority of India projects cargo volume at the Chennai airport to grow five
per cent to 3.75 lakh tonnes during 2012-13. The current year will see the
passenger traffic grow by 8.4 per cent to 1.4 crore.
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