KOCHI: The Cochin international airport has registered a quantum jump in passenger movement in the first two weeks of the Sabarimala season compared to the previous season.
The Ayyappa devotees from outside the state usually come en masse after completing the four day vrutha (abstinence) which many of them start on Malayalam month of Thulam 1 which falls in the middle of October though as per tradition they have to start it on Vrishchikam 1 which falls by the middle of November.
However, this time the traffic through CIAL surged even ahead of the completion of the 41-day period from Thulam 1.
While the international arrival segment registered an increase of over 9,778 passengers from November 17 to 30 compared to the same period last year, the domestic sector witnessed a spurt of over 11,833 passengers, 90 percent of whom are Sabarimala pilgrims.
In the international departure segment, the increase is of 9,479 passengers and in the domestic departure segment it is 10,999.
While in 2013 a total number of 58,874 passengers arrived at the international terminal from November 17 to 30, a total of 68,652 passengers arrived there in the same period this year.
In the domestic sector, the total number of passengers who arrived during the period last year was 45,492 while this year it was 57,325. The increase in flight arrivals in international sector was 32 at 482 while in the domestic sector it went up by 34 to 532.
It is understood that there is an increase of 30 percent in the number of domestic travellers in the period November 17-30 than during November 1-17 this year while in international segment, it has gone up by 15 percent.
