No Dip in Kolkata air-travel numbers after AI- Ahmedabad crash, industry relieved

Flyers' footfall at Kolkata airport showed no decline in the days following the Ahmedabad plane crash, reflecting people's continued faith in air travel as the safest mode of transport despite the isolated mishap.

This is in stark contrast to the scene in the aftermath of the Pahalgam terror attack two months ago, when outgoing passenger numbers from Kolkata immediately dropped by 11% as people grew wary of leisure travel amid heightened security fears.

But this was not the case after the plane crash incident. While a total of 61,033 passengers flew in and out of Kolkata on the day of the plane crash on Thursday, the footfall was 61,586 on Friday and 60,939 again on Saturday.

According to the airport footfall data available, more passengers travelled through the Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose International (NSCBI) airport on Friday and Saturday than that on the two days before the flight accident.

Although there was a slight dip in domestic passengers flying out of the airport in the two days after the crash, it was made up by an up-tick in the number of people flying in and out of the airport in the international sectors.