Flights & flyers at Pune airport close to pre-Covid level

PUNE: A total of 160 flights (inbound and outbound ) operated from the city airport on Thursday, just 10 short of the daily movement in pre-pandemic days, while 22,010 passengers used the facility on Wednesday - the second highest daily count after the coronavirus outbreak.
"We had anticipated that flight movements would come to pre-pandemic level during the summer schedule.With restrictions easing, more people are travelling now. We are positive that daily passenger traffic will also surpass the pre-pandemic level with summer vacations approaching. There is a long weekend ahead too, which will encourage travelling," an airport official said.

The airport handled 22,500 passengers on December 24, 2021.
Travel companies claimed they were witnessing an increased number of queries and bookings for the long weekend and the summer vacations.
"We have hotels in Kashmir which are fully booked until May and they are requesting us to recommend other destinations to vacation seekers. A popular resort in Gulmarg, which had a daily tariff of Rs20,000 to Rs25,000, has raised the same to Rs45,000 to Rs50,000 per night. Due to increase in fuel prices, pre-planned itineraries are also being changed. While travellers are having to pay more for travel at present, they are willing to spend money," said Nilesh Bhansali of Devam Tours and Travels.
Rajeev Kale, the president and country head (holidays) at Thomas Cook (India) Limited, said that considering the sweltering heat, cooler locations were being sought after.
"We are witnessing brisk demand of over three times compared to the previous weeks of March/April for India. Our customers have booked popular cooler destinations such as Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Leh, Sikkim, including Goa and the Andamans, which are popular beach destinations. People are also looking at 'drivecations' to nearby destinations from their home cities to Nanital, Dehradun, Mussoorie, Panchgani, Mahabaleshwar, Coorg, Ooty and others," Kale said.
Senior SOTC officials said online search for international destinations also had seen a major jump.