With 27.5 mn passengers in 2022, KIA's post-Covid recovery at 82%

A total of 27.5 million passengers traveled through the Kempegowda International Airport (KIA) during 2022, recording for the airport an 82 per cent recovery in passenger traffic since the pre-Covid year 2019, the airport operator said on Tuesday.

KIA recovered 85 per cent of traffic in the domestic sector and 65 per cent in the international sector during the calendar year. Bangalore International Airport Limited (BIAL) which operates the airport traced the "rapid recovery" to factors including relaunching of key routes and the introduction of routes connecting leading business hubs and travel destinations. The past year saw 24.36 million domestic passengers and 3.14 million international passengers traveling through KIA.

The traffic peaked during the year-end holiday season with December clocking 3.13 million passengers (2.74 million of them domestic passengers), surpassing the pre-Covid record of 3.06 million passengers, set in December 2019. The year’s busiest day was December 23 which recorded 107,825 passengers.

In terms of air transport movements (ATM), KIA registered a 98 per cent recovery of the pre-Covid numbers. The airport recorded a 100 per cent recovery in domestic ATM during the year.

KIA connects 75 domestic destinations now, an addition of 16 from the pre-Covid times. BIAL said the growth of Akasa Airlines — at 30 daily departures to 11 destinations within six months — was one of the year’s “success stories”.

Satyaki Raghunath, Chief Strategy and Development Officer, BIAL, said 2022 marked a significant milestone for KIA which saw its Terminal 2 getting inaugurated during the year, making the airport better positioned as "the natural gateway to South and Central India".

Since March 2022, when scheduled international operations resumed at the airport, Qantas Airways introduced the direct route between Bengaluru and Sydney, Emirates launched its A380 service to Dubai and Air India reinstated its thrice-weekly Bengaluru – San Francisco route.

Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Kochi, and Hyderabad were the top domestic routes during the year, contributing about 40 per cent to the domestic traffic. The top international routes – Dubai, Male, Singapore, Doha, and Abu Dhabi – contributed about 47 per cent to the international traffic.