Delhi airport now connected with 150 domestic, international destinations

Delhi's IGI Airport is now India's first airport connected to 150 destinations, including 80 domestic and 70 international, boosting global travel.

Updated on: Dec 17, 2024, 05:00:10 IST

By Jasjeev Gandhiok

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The Indira Gandhi International (IGI) Airport in New Delhi has earned the distinction of being the first and only airport in India that is connected to 150 airports — 80 domestic and 70 international — the airport’s operator Delhi International Airport Limited (DIAL) said on Monday.

An Airbus SE A320 aircraft, operated by IndiGo, prepares to land at Indira Gandhi International Airport in New Delhi. (Bloomberg)

The latest airport added to IGI airport’s long list of connections is Don Mueang (DMK) airport in Bangkok, Thailand, following the launch on Sunday of a Thai AirAsia X direct flight from Delhi.

“On Sunday, Thai AirAsia X launched direct flights between Delhi and Bangkok-Don Mueang (DMK), marking the 150th destination connected to IGI Airport. The route will operate with Airbus A330 aircraft at a twice-weekly frequency, increasing to four times per week by mid-January 2025,” said a DIAL spokesperson.

To be sure, Delhi was already connected to Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi International Airport before the city’s second airport — Don Mueang — was added through a direct flight.

DIAL said that IGI Airport has connected with 20 exclusive international destinations in recent years such as Phnom Penh (Cambodia), Denpasar (Bali, Indonesia), Calgary, Montreal and Vancouver (Canada), Washington and Chicago (USA), and Tokyo, among others.

“Of all the long-haul destinations from India, 88% of destinations are connected from Delhi and 56% of all long-haul weekly flights departing from India operate from Delhi. At least 42% of long-haul passengers from India choose Delhi airport as their gateway,” the DIAL spokesperson said, adding that the airport has also experienced a 100% increase in transfer passengers in the last decade.

According to the Airports Authority of India, the Delhi airport handled 73.6 million passengers in 2023-24, making it the country’s busiest airport. This was followed by Mumbai, which handled 52.8 million passengers in 2023-24. However, comparative data on the number of direct domestic and international flights connecting Mumbai was unavailable.

The Delhi airport was ranked 24th across the world in this year’s best connected international airport rankings released by the travel data provider Official Airline Guide (OAG). It ranked London’s Heathrow Airport (LHR) with 227 destinations as the best connected airport in the world, followed by Kuala Lumpur (KUL). Mumbai’s Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport was ranked 44th worldwide connecting 127 destinations.

DIAL chief executive officer Videh Kumar Jaipuriar said that Indian carriers are helping transform IGI Airport into a major connection hub, with the airport enhancing global connectivity and providing world-class travel experiences.

“We are proud to lead India into a new era of aviation and remain dedicated to being a hub of choice for travellers worldwide,” he said.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Jasjeev Gandhiok
Jasjeev Gandhiok is an Assistant Editor with Hindustan Times, where he covers environment, climate change, the clean energy transition and wildlife at the National Bureau. Gandhiok has over a decade of experience in journalism and is based in Delhi. He has reported extensively on Delhi and the National Capital Region (NCR). This includes the region's air pollution woes, a polluted Yamuna and on urban wildlife still thriving in the region. He joined HT in October 2021. Prior to that, he had five-year stint at The Times of India in Delhi, where he also covered Delhi, with a focus on environment and wildlife. Gandhiok has covered some recent events around the Capital too, ranging from the farmers' protests, the northeast Delhi riots and the CAA-NRC protests, reporting from the ground on all of these. He also travels across the country to report on how environment and climate change impact everyday life, while also writing on endangered species. His reports in 2019 on toxic leachate from Delhi's landfills led to the National Green Tribunal (NGT) taking suo motu cognisance and ultimately asking the state government to start bio-mining to flatten and remove all three landfills in the capital. He also closely tracks the implementation of government policies on climate, renewable energy and environmental protection. His focus remains on impactful, public-interest journalism which explains how environmental decisions affect people's everyday lives.Read More