The Delhi airport remained on the top of international aircraft movement in India in 2014-15 though it registered a dip in numbers while the Mumbai and Bengaluru airports witnessed growth in traffic.
According to figures tabulated by the Airports Authority of India (AAI), the Indira Gandhi International Airport had a negative growth in the international aircraft movement in 2014-15, compared with the previous fiscal. The Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport, Mumbai, and the Kempegowda International Airport, Bengaluru, followed the Delhi airport in the list of having the maximum number of international operations.
While Delhi had 86,191 aircraft movement in 2013-14, it decreased to 85,810 in the last fiscal, registering a 0.4 per cent decrease. However, the number of passengers registered a 6.7 per cent increase — from 1.26 crore to 1.35 crore — during this period.
While Delhi’s aircraft movement decreased, Mumbai (2.4 per cent) and Bengaluru (8 per cent) airports showed growth. In Mumbai, there were 74,086 flights from 72,359, while in Bengaluru, flights rose from 19,308 to 20,845.
Even among passengers, Bengaluru showed impressive growth of 11.3 per cent — from 26.34 lakh to 29.32 lakh. In Mumbai, the passengers grew to 1.14 crore from 1.03 crore.
Curiously, Goa, a prominent tourist destination, witnessed a decrease of 16.7 per cent in number of international passengers. While it was 7.36 lakh in 2013-14, it declined to 6.13 lakh in last fiscal.
In the domestic front, the Bengaluru airport witnessed an impressive 14.5 per cent increase in passengers while the airports of Delhi and Mumbai registered an increase 5.1 per cent and 3.8 per cent, respectively. On the freight scene too, the Delhi, Mumbai and Bengaluru airports were on top on both domestic and international sectors. Mumbai carried the highest of 4.86 lakh tonnes international freight, followed by Delhi (4.24 lakh tonnes), and Bengaluru (1.66 lakh tonnes).
Delhi carried the highest of 2.71 lakh tonnes domestic freight, followed by Mumbai (2.07 lakh tonnes), and Bengaluru (1.12 lakh tonnes).
DH News Service
