Patna, May 29: The passenger flow at Jaiprakash Narayan International Airport shrank in the last fiscal for the first time in four financial years despite handling over 10 lakh passengers primarily because of reduced number of flights and the shift of Haj operations to Gaya.

The official figures of Airports Authority of India (AAI) for annual passenger and aircraft traffic for the 2012-13 fiscal revealed that Patna airport handled 10,03,169 passengers, a drop of 1.8 per cent compared to the last financial year. In 2011-12, the airport had registered 21.8 per cent increase in terms of passenger flow.

Gaya international airport, on the other hand, has recorded the highest growth both in terms of passenger flow as well as aircraft movement among 45 main airports of the country. Yet, it remained at the last position — 45th — for the second consecutive year because of low volume of passenger flow and aircraft traffic.

Going by the AAI figures released today, Patna stands at 23rd position as far as percentage increase in the passenger flow. It was at 18th position in the last fiscal.

Except Mangalore and Port Blair, the passenger flow in all other (43) airports has decreased as compared to the figures of 2011-12.

Patna airport director Arvind Dubey attributed the drop in the passenger flow to two reasons — suspension of Kingfisher airline’s services and the shift of Haj operations to Gaya international airport.

“The Kingfisher airline used to operate three Airbus 320 from the city airport daily. But they do not operate anymore. We also used to get good number of passengers when Haj operations were done from the Patna airport,” said Dubey.

He added: “The downfall in terms passenger flow has been observed at almost all the airports in the country. But the passenger flow at the city airport has increased from 3,44,446 in 2008-09 to 10,03,169 in the last fiscal — nearly three-fold rise. The increase in the passenger flow in almost all other airports was not more than double in the same period, he added.

Airlines also attributed the negative growth in the passenger flow to the reduced number of flights. “In the past few years, the number of flights of Jet Airways from the city airport has come down from seven to three. Similarly, IndiGo operates three flights now against four earlier. Worse, Kingfisher has suspended operations. The flights operating are flying with reduced capacity. Also, airfare is now abnormally high. All these factors have led to reduced passenger flow at the city airport,” said a senior executive of a private airline.

Fliers claimed that abnormally high airfare was responsible for the drop in the passenger flow. “I have recently paid Rs 23,000 for going to Delhi. The fare remains almost the same throughout the year. Such astronomically high fares take air travel beyond the reach of common man. I believe the monopoly of the existing airlines would be over only when more carriers would start operating from the city,” said Narendra Kumar, director, Windsor Hotel and a frequent flier.

Industry bodies in the state attributed the negative growth of the passenger flow at the city airport to its limitation in passenger-handling capacity and high airfare. “Patna airport is small. It has reached the saturation point in terms of passenger-handling capacity and there is no scope for furthermore additions. If the capacity of the airport is not increased, it would act as a bottleneck in the development of the state. Also, the airfare on most routes from Patna is abnormally high as compared to the rest of the country.,” said KPS Kesari, the president of Bihar Industries Association.