NEW DELHI: The growing desire for international travel continues to fuel India’s aviation growth story. According to the latest data released by the Airports Authority of India (AAI) for the first half of the current financial year, foreign travel has surged by nearly 7% compared to the same period last year.
The Air Traffic Report, made public on Wednesday, shows that 3.95 crore passengers travelled abroad from India between April and September 2025, up from 3.69 crore during the same period in 2024. Overall passenger traffic grew by 2.6%, with 20.21 crore people flying in the six-month period this year compared to 19.69 crore last year.
Domestic air travel recorded a modest 1.6% increase, with 16.25 crore passengers this year versus 15.99 crore in the previous fiscal period. The total Air Traffic Movements (ATMs) — arrivals plus departures — rose by 2.8%, reaching 15.77 lakh in April–September 2025 compared to 15.35 lakh last year.
Thanks to airlines regularly announcing new international routes, several relatively smaller airports — such as Surat, Coimbatore, Guwahati, Jaipur, Varanasi, Mangaluru, Kannur, Bagdogra, Pune, Indore, and Udaipur — have registered strong double-digit growth in international passenger traffic.
Among them, Bagdogra and Coimbatore posted remarkable increases of 51% (13,492 flyers) and 50.5% (1,60,597 flyers), respectively, in April–September 2025 compared to the same period in 2024.
Among major airports, Bengaluru recorded an impressive 28.9% surge in international traffic, handling 34,58,308 passengers in the first half of the current financial year. Hyderabad showed substantial growth of 19%, while Mumbai registered a 5.6% increase. Delhi, however, saw a slight 0.5% decline.
Domestic Travel Trends
Sindhudurg Airport reported the highest growth in domestic passenger traffic, with an 84.1% increase and 21,936 flyers over the previous financial year. Other airports that recorded notable growth include Kishangarh (65.7%, 59,421 flyers), Darbhanga (64.3%, 3,86,174), Gorakhpur (57.5%, 5,62,596), Cuddapah (53.9%, 33,973), and Pithoragarh (56.5%, 8,215).
Airports such as Tiruchirappalli (55.6%), Tirupati (42.9%), Jeypore (42.1%), Bilaspur (38.1%), Rajahmundry (33.7%), and Kurnool (22.9%) also posted impressive domestic growth figures.
Among major airports, both Delhi and Mumbai reported negative growth in domestic travel. The closure of Terminal 2 at IGIA and changes in flight schedules significantly impacted Delhi’s numbers, which dropped by 5.8% to 2,64,91,445 passengers, compared to 2,81,07,645 last year. Mumbai saw a 0.8% dip, handling 1,91,02,987 passengers.
Meanwhile, Hyderabad registered strong domestic growth of 11.3% with 1,26,64,800 flyers, while Chennai saw a 5.1% increase with 83,79,339 passengers.
