Top metros remain busiest domestic airports in December

Indian airports served 25.12 million passengers in December, up from 23.23 million in November.

Earlier, Indian airports recorded 19.64 million passengers in October, up from 15.44 million in September and 14.26 million in August.

However, growth in air passenger traffic has slowed since late December due to the emergence of the third wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, as a result of the rapid spread of the Omicron variant of the virus.

During December, the number of international passengers increased to 2.99 million from 2.51 million in the previous month, while the number of domestic passengers during the month stood at 22.13 million as against 20.72 million in the previous month.

New Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Kolkata and Hyderabad were the top airports in terms of domestic traffic, while New Delhi, Mumbai, Kochi, Chennai and Hyderabad were busiest for international traffic during December.

New Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International Airport saw over 4.17 million domestic passengers in December, up from 3.98 million in November.

Mumbai’s Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport recorded around 2.54 million passengers during October, up from 2.43 million in November.

Bengaluru’s Kempegowda International Airport and Kolkata’s Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose International Airport registered 2.03 million and 1.45 million domestic passengers, respectively, during December, compared to 1.89 million and 1.32 million passengers, respectively, in November.

In terms of international passenger traffic, New Delhi recorded 842,582 passengers in December, up from 724,784 passengers in November, while Mumbai reported 451,212 passengers during the month, up from 370,850 passengers during the previous month.

Kochi and Chennai airports registered 301,338 and 246,387 international passengers respectively during December, up from 243,379 and 182,123 passengers during November.
Scheduled international flights, however, remain suspended until at least the end of February, although all cargo and flights continue to operate under the bilateral air bubble agreement.