Bengaluru airport back to pre-COVID passenger levels

Passenger traffic volumes registered over 102 per cent growth in domestic travel and about 85 per cent growth in international travel in October 2022, as compared to October 2019, the airport's operator Bangalore International Airport Limited (BIAL) said in a statement.

Published on: Nov 5, 2022, 14:08:18 IST

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Kempegowda International Airport, Bengaluru is back to pre-COVID passenger levels owing to the high traffic numbers recorded in the current financial year (2022-23) until October 26.

Passenger traffic volumes registered over 102 per cent growth in domestic travel and about 85 per cent growth in international travel in October 2022, as compared to October 2019, the airport's operator Bangalore International Airport Limited (BIAL) said in a statement.

The airport welcomed 16.30 million passengers in the current financial year until the last week of October, versus 6.61 million passengers during the same period last year.

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"We are very optimistic that this upward trend will continue over the next few quarters," said Chief Strategy and Development Officer, BIAL, Satyaki Raghunath.

Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Kochi, and Pune have been the top domestic routes accounting for 44 per cent of all traffic, while Dubai, Doha, Singapore, Frankfurt, and Male have been the top international routes contributing to 54 per cent of the international traffic in FY 2023 to date.

Growth in the international segment is expected to increase with more airlines inducting additional capacity and reinstating operations to and from the airport, it said.

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Additionally, an increase in the number of flights to domestic destinations has led to enhanced connectivity to Tier II/III cities. As a result, the share of non-metro traffic at the airport increased to 58 per cent, whereas transfer traffic accounted for 14 per cent during the April-September 2022 period.

International carriers like Qantas and Cathay Pacific have commenced operations to and from the airport and these launches have also led to a higher volume in passenger numbers.

Emirates, Air France, KLM, Japan Airlines, and Kuwait Airways have expanded their operations, while Ethiopian, Malindo Air, and Air Asia have resumed scheduled passenger flights.

The higher demand is one of the primary reasons for Emirates to deploy A380 to the airport, it was stated.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Yamini C S
Yamini CS is a Senior Content Producer at Hindustan Times with nearly six years of experience in digital journalism. She is part of the India News desk, where she works on a wide range of stories cutting across civic issues, city-based developments, politics, governance, public policy, breaking news, trending topics, and international affairs that have an impact on India. Her role involves tracking fast-moving developments, verifying information from official and on-ground sources, and presenting news in a clear, accessible format for a digital-first audience. A significant part of her work includes handling live blogs during major news events, such as elections, court verdicts, political developments, civic disruptions, protests, weather-related alerts, and unfolding national or international incidents. Through live coverage, she focuses on timely updates to help readers follow complex stories as they evolve. Before moving to the broader India News desk, Yamini was associated with the Bengaluru desk at Hindustan Times, where she extensively covered urban governance, infrastructure, traffic and transport issues, weather events, public grievances, and civic administration in the city. This experience strengthened her grounding in city reporting and sharpened her focus on citizen-centric journalism. She began her career as a correspondent with Reuters after completing a postgraduate diploma in journalism from the Indian Institute of Journalism and New Media. Her early training instilled a strong emphasis on accuracy, sourcing, and news ethics, which continue to shape her reporting style. Outside of work, Yamini enjoys reading across genres, listening to music, and spending time with her family, which help her maintain balance in a fast-paced newsroom environment.Read More

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