BENGALURU: Clocking 28.32 lakh passengers in November, KIA has recorded its best flyer figures this year, reveals the national Air Traffic Report of the Airports Authority of India. The airport has bested passenger figures recorded during the same period the previous year by 41.4 per cent.
December figures are set to be even better going by the unprecedented crowds at KIA this festive season, prompting the Civil Aviation Ministry to ask the airport operator to take steps to mitigate the chaos. The report said a total of 28.28 million passengers took to the skies across the country last month. Of that, KIA recorded 28,32,655 flyers in November 2022 as compared to 20,17,190 in November 2021. Last month’s figure has 24,83,329 domestic passengers and the rest international. In all, 3,48,326 passengers flew overseas as compared to 1,22,331 in November 2021.
Freight traffic has shown a slight dip of over 1,000 MT in November 2022. It shipped 33,291 MT last month, while it was 34,253 in November 2021.
Air Traffic Movements (arrival and departure flights) have gone up by 11% last month, clocking 16,539 ATMs as against 14,819 in the corresponding period last year. Financial year figures show a massive 53.4% increase with 1,24,405 ATMs in the ongoing FY as against 81,115 till November in the previous FY.
Most airports in the state have reflected a similar trend in November 2022 with November 2021 figures given in brackets: Mangaluru had 1,44,214 flyers (1,16,100); Hubballi 30,642 (21,020); Mysuru 12,716 (10,873); HAL 1,917 (549) and Bidar 889 (Nil). Only Belagavi 22,149 (29,008) and Kalaburagi 7,015 (8,115) recorded a dip in flyers relative to previous year. Belagavi’s dip is attributed to Spicejet stopping operations to Hyderabad and Mumbai since October, Alliance Air shifting its operations and Trujet ending its operations.