HYDERABAD: The Centre said that airports in Andhra Pradesh, run by the Airports Authority of India (AAI) have recorded a revenue loss of Rs 26 crore in 2021.
According to the ministry of civil aviation, the revenue had reduced from Rs 36 crore in April-June 2019 to Rs 10.6 crore during April-June 2021. Minister of state for civil aviation VK Singh said: “Before the Covid-19 pandemic, India was one of the fastest growing aviation markets in the world. Domestic air passenger throughput (total footfalls at airports from domestic flights) grew by 21.5% in 2016-17, 18.3% in 2017-18 and 13.1% in 2018-19. Thereafter, domestic throughput fell by 61.7% in 2020-21 due to the pandemic.”
The minister said the domestic air passenger market was expected to double over the next few years if the impact of the pandemic comes down. About 75% of AAI-operated airports were incurring losses, the government said. The number of domestic passengers had reduced from 128 lakh in January 2020 to 77 lakhs in January 2021 and from 124 lakh in February 2020 to 78 lakh in February 2021.
