BENGALURU: Thanks to the holiday season and special offers by airlines,
Kempegowda International Airport (KIA) has witnessed a 32.8% growth in passenger traffic during the first quarter of 2018-19 compared to the corresponding period last year.
Bangalore
International Airport Limited (BIAL) officials said the total number of passengers passing through the airport in the first three months of the year has increased to 8.02 million from 6.04 million.
KIA has also reported a record 98,869 passenger arrivals and departures on June 30, making it the busiest day since the airport commenced operations in 2008. KIA recorded a footfall of 26.9 million passengers in 2017-18.
Domestic and international passengers grew by 35.8% and 16.8%, respectively, between April and June this year. As many as 6.94 million domestic flyers and 1.08 million international travellers passed through the airport.
Not surprisingly, Air Traffic Movements (ATMs) have also increased by 32.9%, with a total of 58,054 movements in the first quarter of 2018-19 as against 43,673 during the corresponding period last year. KIA now sees an average of 638 ATMs a day. The maximum movements were recorded on May 4 (685).
According to BIAL records, the top domestic destinations during the first quarter of 2018-19 were Delhi (11.15 lakh), Mumbai (8.75 lakh) and Kolkata (4.73 lakh), while the top international destinations were Dubai (2.09 lakh), Singapore (1.63 lakh) and Abu Dhabi (77,166).
As many as 33 passenger airlines — eight domestic and 25 international — connected Bengaluru with 67 destinations (45 domestic and 22 international), during this period. Gulf Air, which started operations on May 1, 2018, is the new addition, connecting Bengaluru to
Bahrain with daily flights.
Meanwhile, the airport also witnessed On Time Performance (OTP), a key performance indicator, achieving on-time departures of 85.6%. “The key factors that have enabled us to deliver in such challenging times are timely expansion of facilities, implementation of cutting-edge technology and innovation and development of services centered around providing a
seamless, easy customer experience,” said Hari Marar, MD and CEO, BIAL.
“As we move forward, our priorities will be to introduce innovative and digital solutions that will redefine the airport experience and strengthen our role as an economic driver for the region,” he added.
The quarter also witnessed cargo operations scaling new heights to a record 97,486 metric tonnes, 16.6% more than 83,584 metric tonnes handled in the first three months of the previous financial year. The 34,398 metric tonnes of cargo processed in June alone helped the airport set another new monthly record. International cargo processed during the period was 61,888 metric tonnes (15.5% growth over 53,583 MT during the same period last year), while domestic cargo was 35,598 MT (18.7% more than 30,001 MT).
Kempegowda international airport 
