Bengaluru-airport handles 33% more passengers in Q1 at over 8mn
(Sourced from PTI)
The Bengaluru international airport has clocked around 33% growth in passenger traffic in the June quarter at over eight million, the airport operator said today. In the June quarter, last year, the Kempegowda International Airport (KIA), the busiest in the south and the third busiest in the country, had handled 6.04 million passengers. In last fiscal year, the airport had received 26.9 million passengers.
"Passenger growth in the first quarter grew 32.9% at 8.02 million, while cargo volume grew at 16.6%. On a single day during the quarter, the airport welcomed a record 98,869 passengers," the airport said in a statement.
Domestic and international passengers grew by 35.8% and 16.8%, respectively, primarily on the back of holiday season and special offers by airlines, the airport said. As many as 6.94 million domestic passengers and 1.08 million international fliers passed through the airport during the June quarter. Air traffic movement improved by a robust 32.9% to 58,054, from 43,673 last year.
The highest-ever air traffic movement in a single day was 685 on May 4 and the airport averaged 638 movements per day, the airport's statement said. The single-runway Mumbai airport handles an average of 950-960 movements a day.
As many as 33 passenger airlines, eight domestic and 25 international, connect the city with 67 destinations (45 domestic and 22 international) with Gulf Air that began operations on May 1, being the new addition connecting the city to Bahrain with daily flights. That apart, as many as 11 cargo airlines, including one domestic and 10 international ones, also operate from the airport.
Delhi remained the top domestic destination in terms of passenger traffic (1,115,145), followed by Mumbai (875,474) and Kolkata (473,089), while top international hubs were Dubai (209,425), Singapore (163,638), and Abu Dhabi (77,166).
The airport continued to show a strong on time-performance for departures at 85.6%, which the airport's MD, Hari Marar, attributed to the timely expansion of facilities, adoption of cutting-edge technology and developing services centered around providing a seamless, easy customer experience. KIA was the second greenfield airport built on a private-public partnership in May 2008 after the Cochin airport which began operations in Jun'99.
