According to the Bangalore International Airport Limited (BIAL), Kempegowda International Airport (KIA) has returned to pre-COVID-19 passenger levels due to high traffic numbers recorded in the current fiscal year (FY) 2023 until October 26.
As per BIAL, passenger traffic volumes increased by more than 102% in domestic travel and by about 85% in international travel in October 2022 when compared to October 2019.
“Until the last week of October, the airport welcomed 16.3 million passengers in the current fiscal year, compared to 6.61 million passengers during the same period last year. Due to the holiday and festive season, traffic revival has continued in both the domestic and international sectors. 94,330 passengers passed through the airport on October 21, which marked the start of the festive season with the Deepavali weekend,” according to BIAL.
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“The aviation market has seen robust demand in the last six months, which has positively impacted passenger volumes.” Due to the pandemic, air travel took a significant hit, but it is now recovering, and we have seen growth in recent months. “We are confident that this upward trend will continue in the coming quarters,” said Satyaki Raghunath, Chief Strategy and Development Officer at Bangalore International Airport Limited.
South India’s preferred transport hub
According to BIAL, the airport has established itself as the leading transfer gateway in South India. Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Cochin, and Pune were the top domestic routes, accounting for 44% of total traffic, while Dubai, Doha, Singapore, Frankfurt, and Male were the top international routes, accounting for 54% of total traffic in FY 2023 to date.
In October 2022, passenger traffic volumes increased by more than 102% in domestic travel and by about 85% in international travel when compared to October 2019. In the current fiscal year until the last week of October, the airport welcomed 16.30 million passengers, up from 6.61 million in the same period last year.
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In FY23, the airport’s Air Traffic Movements (ATM) recovered 118,852 ATMs. There were 1,05,354 domestic ATMs and 13,498 international ATMs.
During the Deepavali week, the airport saw over 5.2 lakh domestic passenger movements in a six-day period. International passenger traffic was estimated to be around 70,000 people.
