Bhopal: Foreign exchange counter would be soon opened at Bhopal’s Raja Bhoj airport in a bid to provide better facilities to passengers. As a move in this direction, the airport authorities have already floated tenders in this regard.
Airport director Anil Vikram said that separate counters will be set up at the arrival as well as the departure sections of the airport. “We have already received a bid and are waiting for others to show interest in starting the foreign exchange counters at the airport. Once we have sufficient bids, we would be in a situation to launch it,” he said.
The necessity for having the facility was felt after the rise in the number of footfall of passengers at the airport. The airport began to register the increase in passenger movement because of the increase in number of flights in January this year.
The increase in passenger movement in January this year was 26.94%, when 84,349 passengers travelled as compared to passenger footfall of 66,447 in January 2018. As per the latest data, the airport shows an impressive growth of 116% in aircraft movement with a growth of 107.6% in the passengers movement as against the July 2018 report. The latest report states that in July 2019, the airport has witnessed the movement of 1,16,491 passengers while in July 2018, it was 56,100 passengers — a growth of 107.6%. In the April-July period as well, passenger movement was increased. In the period April-July 2019, there was a passenger movement of 4,55,391. In April-July 2018, the passenger movement was 2,55,995. During April-July period Bhopal airport witnessed an increase of 75%.
Aircraft movement was also incredible according to the report. In July 2018, there was a movement of 582 aircraft which increased to 1,257 in July 2019. The growth was 116%. In April-July 2018, the aircraft movement was 2,639. In April-July 2019, the aircraft movement increased to 5,034 which was 90.8% growth.
Source: timesofindia.indiatimes.com