Passenger Capacity at Indian Airports Set to Surge by 60 Million

13.03.2024 - 05:37 / skift.com / Rajesh Magow / Narendra Modi / Air India / Bulbul Dhawan / Airlines

The annual passenger capacity at Indian airports is set to increase by 60 million. This comes as Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated new terminal buildings at 12 airports across the country.

These include the Delhi airport; Pune and Kolhapur airports in Maharashtra; Gwalior, Chitrakoot, and Jabalpur in Madhya Pradesh; Lucknow, Aligarh, Moradabad, Shravasti, and Azamgarh airports in Uttar Pradesh; and Adampur airport in Punjab.

He also laid foundation stones for new terminal buildings at Kadapa airport in Andhra Pradesh and Hubballi and Belagavi airports in Karnataka. Collectively, these three buildings will add a capacity of 9.5 million passengers annually. 

Boost to aviation sector: While the government is increasing the number of airports in India, the Adani Group has revealed its plans to expand seven of the airports in its portfolio. This comes as the air passenger traffic in the country is expected to surpass the pre-Covid levels in the 2023-24 fiscal year. 

The boost in aviation infrastructure is accompanied by the airlines’ plans to scale their operations. Last year, budget carrier IndiGo placed an order for 500 Airbus A320 family aircraft. Former national carrier Air India also placed an order for 470 new aircraft with Airbus and Boeing.

Air travel for regional connectivity: The government and the industry have been focusing on driving passengers towards air travel for regional connectivity. Till a decade ago, roads and railways were major means of transportation between places other than metros and tier 1 cities in India.

With regional connectivity schemes such as UDAN, there has been a push towards bringing air travel to the residents of tier 2 and 3 cities. This has been complemented by the coming up of regional budget airlines such Akasa Air and Fly91, accompanied by expansion of IndiGo and SpiceJet airlines. 

Online travel agency MakeMyTrip has revealed that there is a significant uptick in leisure bookings in India as long weekends due to Holi, falling on the last Monday of the month, and Good Friday, the following Friday, approach.

Rajesh Magow, co-founder and group CEO, MakeMyTrip, said that Goa is the top domestic destination in terms of flight bookings as well as hotel bookings. 

In terms of short-haul international travel, it found that the United Arab Emirates topped in preference of Indian travelers, followed by Thailand, Singapore, Indonesia, and Malaysia. The United Kingdom and the United States of America remained preferred long-haul international destinations. 

Religious tourism is on an upswing in the country, and the festive weekends follow the trend. MakeMyTrip revealed that hotel bookings in religious destinations like Puri, Varanasi, and Amritsar have doubled