BENGALURU: Despite the turbulence in the aviation industry in 2019, the Kempegowda International Airport (KIA) was patronised by 33.65 million flyers, giving it a 4.1% growth in traffic compared to the previous year. The highest ever traffic in a single day was recorded almost a year ago (January 20, 2019) with 1,09,174 passengers.
The big story in this growth figure is the handsome upswing of 14% in international passenger volume, said an official release from Bangalore International Airport Limited (BIAL) airport operator. This translated to 4.27 million flyovers in 2019 as compared to 2018.
Domestic traffic grew by a modest 2.6% touching 28.78 million last year as compared to 28.05 million in 2018. The closure of Jet Airways and the grounding of A320 Neo aircraft which caused supply side issues had taken a toll on the industry as a whole. The ripple effect of it at KIA was the reduction of its Air Traffic Movements (Arrival/Departures) with a 0.1%, compared to double digit growth figures annually from 2014 to 2018.
These factors had a ripple effect as the ATMs at BLR Airport were down by 0.1% as against the double-digit figure witnessed annually during the previous five years (2014-2018 ). The total ATMs during 2019 was 2,35,058 as compared to 2,35,190 in 2018. The dip in ATM was mainly due to the slump in domestic movements by 1.8% though international movements soared by 13%. A total of 30,556 international ATMs took place.
In a reversal of positions, domestic cargo growth was positive while international growth went down. Domestic cargo grew by 4.1% with a total of 1,49,603 Metric Tonnes (MT) processed as against 1,43,701 MT in 2018. In the same period, international cargo dropped by 4.1%. This brought down the overall cargo shipment down by 1.0%.
Hari Marar, MD and CEO of BIAL, said, “The aviation market in India is in recovery mode after a volatile period. We estimate that passenger volumes at BLR Airport will be between 55 and 65 million passengers per annum (mppa) in the next five years. To support this growth, BIAL is investing Rs 13,000 crore for infrastructure expansion, including the South Runway, which is operational, and the first phase of Terminal 2.”
Several technology initiatives like fully-automated self-bag-drop machines, Smart Security Lanes and the biometric-based self-boarding process - DigiYatra - were launched, the release said. On the domestic front, Delhi (13,186) and Mumbai (11,801) continued to be the most travelled destinations from Bengaluru while Singapore (1,628) and Dubai (1,488) were the top international cities by annual scheduled passenger movement CY19.
Among the airlines, Indigo continued to lead as their passenger figures, to and from Bengaluru, rose by 13.0% from 13.81 mppa in CY 2018 to 15.61 mppa in CY 2019.
Flights to seven new destinations and the launch of two international airlines took place last year. Japan Airlines to Tokyo and Lufthansa to Munich are set to launch during this summer.