Mumbai, December 21: The Mumbai airport on Monday said it has seen a steady rise in international passengers since May with the total crossing half-a-million mark till November, from a little over 10,000 six months ago. The number of flights during this period also went up significantly, it said.

The Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport (CSMIA) facilitated over 12,560 international flights in the period between May-November 2020, catering to over 5,06,000 passengers, the airport aerodrome operator said in a statement. Mumbai Airport Now Starts COVID-19 Express Test Facility for Departing Passengers, Visitors; RT-PCR Testing Facility Installed at Terminal 2.

These also include repatriation and Vande Bharat flights on account of air bubble agreements with various foreign governments, it said. While CSMIA catered to over 10,300 passengers across 1,060 flights in May 2020, the airport witnessed the movement of over 1,44,400 passengers in November, said the statement.

During the period, the Mumbai airport also introduced 29 new international destinations including Lusaka, Mombasa and Tbilisi, the statement said. It also joined hands with new international airlines such as Thai AirAsia and South African Airways, the statement added.

The ease of restrictions of various countries have played an essential role in the flow of passenger traffic to those destinations. During May-November, CSMIA registered Dubai, London-Heathrow, Newark, Doha, and Abu Dhabi as the top-five destinations for passengers flying from Mumbai, according to the airport operator.

Among these, Dubai emerged as the route with the highest passenger traffic catering to over 2,67,600 passengers; followed by London-Heathrow at over 89,800 passengers and Newark with 80,800 passengers. The Doha route catered to 58,200 passengers and Abu Dhabi 39,400 travellers, it added.

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