Kempegowda International Airport, Bengaluru (BLR Airport) recorded 26.9 million passengers in FY 2017-18, continuing its dynamic trend, by achieving a remarkable growth of 32.9 per cent in the first-quarter compared to the same period of the previous year.
The total number of passengers who passed through BLR Airport in the first-three months grew to 8.02 million from 6.04 million passengers during the corresponding period in FY 2017-18. It also notched up a daily record with 98,869 passengers arriving and departing on June 30, marking the busiest day at BLR Airport – since start of operations.
Domestic and international passengers grew by 35.8 per cent and 16.8 per cent, respectively, primarily on the back of holiday season and special offers by airlines. 6.94 million domestic passengers and 1.08 million international fliers passed through the BLR Airport between April and June 2018.
Showing a robust growth, the Air Traffic Movement (ATM) improved by 32.9 per cent, with a total of 58,054 movements as against 43,673 movements last year. The highest-ever ATMs in a single day was 685 on May 4, 2018, as the Airport averaged 638 movements per day.
Cargo Operations
This quarter also witnessed the cargo operations scaling new heights as a record 97,486 metric tonnes of cargo was processed in three months, representing 16.6 per cent more than 83,584 metric tonnes handled in the first-three months of FY 2017.
The 34,398 metric tonnes of cargo processed in the month of June alone helped the airport to set another new monthly record in the history of the Airport. International cargo processed during the period was 61,888 metric tonnes (15.5 percent growth over 53,583 metric tonnes same period last year) while the domestic was 35,598 metric tonnes (18.7 percent over 30,001 metric tonnes same period last year).
As many as 33 passenger airlines — eight domestic and 25 international airlines — 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. A total of 11 cargo airlines, including one domestic and 10 international, connect Bengaluru.