PASSENGER TRAFFIC AT BENGALURU AIRPORT

Annual passenger traffic through Kempegowda International Airport (KIA) at Bengaluru, crossed 25 million last year. In India, this volume of passenger traffic is experienced only at the international airports at Delhi and Mumbai. In 2016, KIA had handled 22.18 million passengers. An additional 2.86 million people passed through the region’s fastest growing airport in 2017. By crossing the 25 million mark, KIA has graduated to the higher category of 25 to 40 million passengers, a standard fixed by the Airports Council International (ACI).

Airport sources also revealed that December 2017 clocked another milestone. Air Traffic Movements, including departures and arrivals of aircraft , touched the figure of 600. A critical factor contributing to this surge has been IndiGo’s record 116 daily departures from Bengaluru in December 2017.

Having bagged the Rs 1,358-crore contract to build KIA’s second runway, infrastructure major Larsen and Toubro (L&T) is expected to commence work shortly. Completion of this facility, dubbed New South Parallel Runway, in 2019 will boost the airport’s capacity to handle more flights and by implication, more passengers. The new runway will cater to all types of aircraft, the Airbus A-380 in particular and in all weather conditions. It is estimated that once the second terminal too becomes operational, the airport’s overall capacity to handle passenger traffic annually, could eventually go up to 55 million.