KIA world’s fastest growing airport in 2018: Report

The Kempegowda International Airport was the world’s fastest growing airport in 2018 among aerodrommes with over 15 million annual passengers. This was revealed by the Airports Council International (ACI) in its latest World Airport Report.

KIA catered to 32.33 million passengers last year, recording a 29.1% year-on-year growth. This high growth beat Turkey’s Antalya Airport, which grew by 22.1%. Hyderabad’s Rajiv Gandhi International Airport was the third fastest, with 21.9%, catering to 20.9 million passengers.

The ACI report found that, in total, the world’s airports accommodated 8.8 billion passengers, 122.7 million metric tonnes of cargo and 99.9 million aircraft movements.

The world’s top three airports for passenger traffic volume — Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, Beijing Capital International Airport and Dubai International Airport, respectively, — retained their positions.

Los Angeles International Airport (fourth) and Tokyo International Airport (fifth) swapped places in the top five from last year. “The World Airport Traffic Report shows that even as smaller airports around the world continue to make strong gains, the largest hub airports continue to grow,” said ACI world director general Angela Gittens.

But most of the world’s fastest growing airports were located in emerging markets, a significant proportion of them being in the Asia-Pacific region. As many as 12 of the fastest growing top 30 airports in 2018 are located in either China or India, according to the report.

On Indian airports, Gittens had this to say: “India’s move towards a more liberalised aviation market and the nation’s strengthening economic fundamentals have helped it become one of the fastest growing markets with its traffic growing rapidly in a relatively short time.”

In total cargo volumes, the top five airports — Hong Kong International Airport, Memphis International Airport, Shanghai Pudong International Airport, Incheon International Airport, and Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport, respectively — all held their positions from the previous year.

The Indira Gandhi International Airport, Delhi, was the only Indian airport among the top 20 global airports ranked in terms of Air Traffic Movements (take-offs and landings). However, even Delhi did not figure in the top 20 ranks based on passenger traffic and cargo volumes.

Airports Council International (ACI), the trade association of the world’s airports, was founded in 1991, with the objective of fostering cooperation among its member airports and other partners in world aviation.