Delhi Airport now connects 150 destinations, of which half are non-stop routes
The GMR-run airport has reached a new milestone. Take a look at the breakup of the destinations it connects.
Delhi Airport, the largest airport in the country and the jewel in the crown for infrastructure company GMR’s airport business, has reached a new milestone, becoming the first in the country to be connected to 150 destinations. Almost simultaneously, it has also clocked the best-ever traffic in history.
This marks a new beginning for the airport, which had been in the news recently for the collapse of part of the roof at Terminal 1. This section of the terminal continues to be closed, and hence the revamped capacity of 100 million passengers has not yet been fully available for use.
Data shared by Cirium, an aviation analytics company, exclusively for this article shows some interesting insights into the destinations where Delhi is connected.
150 destinations - a first
Towards the end of 2008-09, Delhi airport overtook Mumbai in terms of traffic, and there has been no looking back since then. Land availability has been a major factor, but the airport operators and successive governments need to be lauded for this growth. The building of Terminal 3 and the third runway, a part of Phase 1, followed by changes to Terminal 1 and the fourth runway, spurred the airport to new achievements.
Up to 75 domestic destinations are connected non-stop from Delhi, while five more are connected with a one-stop same flight number service.
Six airlines offer services on domestic routes, with IndiGo leading the pack by offering services to 69 of these 75. Air India follows with 36 destinations. In terms of weekly departures, IndiGo leads with 1,593 weekly departures while the combined Air India, post-merger, offers 1,173 weekly departures.
Of the 70 international destinations from Delhi, 40 are in Asia, 16 in Europe (including UK), 8 in Americas, four in Africa and two in Australia. These 70 destinations are served by 64 different airlines. Air India offers the maximum spread out of Delhi, with 36 international destinations, followed by IndiGo which connects Delhi to 18 international destinations. Air India also leads on the flight front with 357 weekly departures, while IndiGo follows suit with153 weekly departures on the international segment.
On the domestic front, Delhi-Dehradun is the shortest flight from Delhi, while Delhi-Port Blair is the longest. This is not just the longest from Delhi but also the longest flight within India. On the International side, the shortest route from Delhi is to Kathmandu, the capital of Nepal while the longest is to San Francisco.
Highest traffic in November
November was a blockbuster month for Indian aviation. Naturally, the airports benefitted, with Delhi recording its best-ever monthly traffic, clocking 6.78 million passengers. About 4.9 million passengers were flew domestic routes and 1.9 million on international – both highest ever numbers. Not just in passenger numbers, the cargo volume recorded was also the highest ever, marking it a truly phenomenal month for the airport.
As of November, the airport has clocked 51.5 million passengers, a growth of 8% over the same period last year. The growth in terms of Air Traffic Movement (ATM) has been 6% Year to Date, which shows that the passenger numbers are growing faster than movements, indicating a more substantial load factor. The traffic is now 70% of last year with 33% of the year ahead, indicating that the airport will definitely cross last year's numbers - even without having a full capacity on the passenger side.
Tail Note
Delhi Airport is in a constant construction mode, many feel. From operationalizing T3, to remodelling the old T1A, followed by building the fourth runway and expanding T1, there have been periodic large-scale projects. The Delhi airport’s latest expansion takes it to 100 million passengers, though it is not fully available yet. With both Air India and IndiGo having robust expansion plans, more destinations will be added over the next one year.
The airport seems to gear up fully for the competition, which it will see from the Noida International Airport at Jewar, slated to come up in the April-June quarter of next year. The question now shifts to passenger amenities and how the airport can manage the extreme rush, especially in the fog period for which it drew flak from all quarters. For now, it is time to bask in the glory and for Groupe ADP to pat its back for the kind of investment it found pre-pandemic as not many airports have grown at this pace after the pandemic.
Catch all the Business News , Breaking News Events and Latest News Updates on Live Mint. Download The Mint News App to get Daily Market Updates.
Business NewsNewsDelhi Airport now connects 150 destinations, of which half are non-stop routes
First Published:17 Dec 2024, 01:32 PM IST
- Top Gainers
- Top Losers
- 52 Week High