TIRUPATI: Tirupati MP Dr M Gurumoorthy has appealed to the Union government to consider increasing flight connectivity to the temple city of Tirupati, keeping in mind the rising demand from the devotees of Lord Venkateswara across the country.
Dr Gurumoorthy, who raised the issue on the floor of the parliament on Wednesday, pointed out that the temple city attracts more than 4 crore devotees from across the country annually.
"The passenger traffic at the Tirupati airport is gradually increasing ever since the relaxation of Covid-19 restrictions recently. At least 16 flights had reported a 30% increase in occupancy coinciding with the overall decline in Covid-19 positive cases and easing of curbs in most Indian states", he pointed out.
Dr Gurumoorthy noted that the Tirupati airport registered a 44% increase in domestic aircraft movement on a year on year basis. The passenger traffic rose steadily from 916 in May 2020 to 58,029 in January 2021 and reached its peak in March 2021 with 65,110 fliers and 855 flights operational.
"Stating that the demand for more connectivity is rising due to the darshan quota increase by the Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams coupled with the revival of industrial activities at the electronics manufacturing cluster located in the city", the Tirupati MP urged the centre to increase the number of flights under the RCS-UDAN scheme.
