Passenger footfall at Ranchi’s Birsa Munda Airport, which had reduced to less than half in the light of the Covid induced lockdown, has tripled since June, the Airport Authority of India (AAI) stated on Monday.

AAI in a tweet from its official Twitter handle stated that passenger traffic at the Ranchi airport had dropped to 57,749 in the month of June when travel restrictions were relaxed after the strict lockdown since March. Passenger traffic shot up to 1,41,268 in November when more flights were allowed to ply, the AAI stated, lauding the airport staff here for their efforts.

The director of Birsa Munda Airport, Vinod Sharma, said that the increase in the number of flights to and from Ranchi has led to an increase in passenger footfall. The number of flights from Ranchi, he said, was increased from eight in June to 17 in November.

“We also started new flights to Chennai. Flight services to Calcutta, which were stalled during the lockdown, also resumed later,” said Sharma, adding that Ranchi airport now had flights to Hyderabad, Bangalore, Delhi and Mumbai despite Covid-enforced restrictions.

However, passenger footfall here was still less than half of what it used to be before the Covid-19 pandemic hit India. “We had a passenger footfall of around 3 lakh before the lockdown restrictions were imposed. Our target is to achieve the same passenger footfall gradually,” said Sharma.

Passenger footfall is the number of passengers taking off from and landing at a particular airport in a given month. As per AAI, the footfall in Ranchi airport gradually grew from 65,602 in July to 86,445 in August and then it further rose to 1,01,271 in September. The passenger footfall in October was 1,28,145, AAI data revealed.

At least 30 flights from Ranchi connected Jharkhand to different parts of the country before the Covid-19 restrictions hit the aviation industry. Birsa Munda Airport in Ranchi is the largest airport in the state and the only one which is connected to almost all major cities of the country.

In October, the Birsa Munda Airport bagged the top position in the country as per a customer satisfaction index (CSI). Ranchi airport secured 4.79 out of five in the grading system of the survey, leaving behind Gaya, Surat, Agartala, Bhopal, Khajuraho, Vijaywada and 10 other “medium-sized” airports, officials added.

Ranchi airport also has expansion plans. It is likely to extend its runway, increase the length of the basic strip and construct an isolation bay on extra land that will be allotted to the AAI once the Cabinet gives its nod to the expansion plans, officials said.

At present, Birsa Munda Airport has a 75-meter basic strip, which is the minimum length required for any airport. The length of the basic strip, the airport director said, would be increased to 140 meters once the expansion plan is approved.