59 mn travellers in one year, Delhi’s airport was 9th busiest in the world in 2022
New Delhi: Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International Airport (IGIA) has ranked ninth in the list of the top ten busiest airports in the world, according to Airports Council International (ACI) data. This is the first time an Indian airport has made it to the list of the top ten airports in terms of traffic. Delhi’s IGIA handled 59 million domestic and international passengers in 2022. According to ACI data, the feat has resulted in IGIA jumping from the 17th rank in pre-covid 2019 to the ninth spot.
In terms of the traffic handled, among the top ten airports, five were in the US. Dubai was the only other airport from Asia in the list. None of the Chinese airports made it to the list, given the travel restrictions in place due to the Covid situation in the country. Chinese air traffic is still far below pre-covid levels. Mumbai is India’s second busiest airport. It saw 38 million passengers in 2022, much lower than 47 million in 2019.
Highlighting a common phenomenon between the five US airports in the list and Delhi’s IGIA, the report stated that domestic travel makes up most of the traffic at these airports. All these airports have high domestic traffic, between 75 and 95 per cent of their total traffic. The report noted that India had seen one of the fastest recoveries in terms of domestic air travel. This is despite a relative surge in airfares.
Speaking about the challenges due to the increased traffic at IGIA, the report quoted officials of some airlines as saying that airports that handle traffic at the levels of Delhi’s IGIA have seamless connectivity between different terminals. An air train has been on the cards to facilitate the same. However, the project has not taken off so far. IGIA was rated as the best airport in the world in the 25–40 million passengers category in 2015 by the Airports Council International.