Kempegowda International Airport sees 17.6 per cent growth in passengers in 2017-18

BENGALURU: The Kempegowda International Airport (KIA) hosted 26.91 million passengers in the financial year ending March 31, 2018. There is a growth of 17.6% compared to the number of passengers that passed through KIA in the previous year, the Bangalore International Airport Limited (BIAL) said on Tuesday.

Announcing its annual statistics for the financial year, BIAL said that the airport dealt with 1,97,339 air traffic movements during the year, which is a growth of 10.8% compared to the previous year.

"The Bangalore airport broke several of its own records in the course of the 12-month period of the previous fiscal. It witnessed the highest ever passenger movement on February 19, 2018 with a record 91,339 travellers passing through Bengaluru Airport on a single day.

The highest-ever ATMs used in a single day was 664 on March 17, 2018. On March 25, the 150 millionth passenger passed through Bengaluru Airport. March was the busiest month of the year, with the airport handling 2,549,523 passengers, and 31,996 MT of airfreight throughout," a statement from BIAL said. Domestic and international passengers grew by 19.8% and 6% respectively.  

On-time performance also increased to 84% of all flights, compared to 82% in 2016-17. "We look forward to 2018-19, which will be a year of several enhancements in technology and infrastructure, powered by digital transformation at the heart of all that we do." said Hari Marar, Managing Director and CEO, BIAL.
In 2018, work on the second runway is scheduled to begin in the middle of the year, with BIAL planning to operate the runway by 2019 and the second terminal by 2021.

"T2 will be constructed in two phases; the first phase which will cater to 25 million passengers annually (MPA), while the second phase of the project will add another 20 million passenger capacity. It is estimated that on completion of both phases of T2, the airport's overall capacity would reach the 65-million mark," the statement said.

According to Airports Council International (ACI), a trade association for the world's airports, New Delhi's IGI airport saw a growth of 14.1% in calendar year 2017, making it the 16th busiest airport in the world, with over 63 million passengers using the airport in 2017. Kolkata, Hyderabad and Chennai airports saw a growth of 26.9%, 19.6% and 10.5% respectively, ACI said.