NEW DELHI: The Delhi airport has successfully handled a total 9.3 lakh metric tonnes of cargo between January and December 2021 – making it the highest volume of cargo handled by any airport in the country in the past one year, the Delhi International Airport Limited (DIAL), its handler, said in a statement issued on Friday.
“Out of 9.3 lakh MT cargo, handled by Delhi Airport, 3.3 lakh MT was domestic cargo and 6 lakh MT International cargo. The key product categories handled by Delhi airport included readymade garment (RMG), electronics goods, pharmaceuticals, medical supplies, automobile/machine parts,” the statement said.
The airport saw an impressive cargo growth of about 27% when compared with cargo handled by Delhi airport in 2020, which was 7.3 lakh MT.
It is the only airport in the country to handle over 10 lakh MT in 2019, which is about 30% of the India’s total air Cargo.
While in 2021, the airport handled over 25,000 Cargo flight Air Traffic Movements (ATMs) whereas in 2019 this figure was around 9,900 ATMs.
“Last year, Delhi airport also saw an increase in connectivity to international destinations. In 2021, international connections from Delhi increased to 87 from 71 in 2019. Major international routes, which showed high recoveries, were majorly the UK, USA, UAE, Germany, France,” it said.
Further, the Ministry of Civil Aviation has designated the airport as major hub for handling of Covid relief material. It handled over 150 Cargo Relief flights with around 2,000 MT of relief cargo.
The airport handled over 38 million PPEs/medical supplies including body suits, ventilators, oxygen concentrators, Temperature guns, gloves, etc, DIAL said.