The Kempegowda International Airport (KIA) recorded a passenger numbers recovery of 82% since the calendar year 2019 (pre-COVID year), with a total of 27.5 million passengers travelling through the airport in 2022. This included an 85% recovery in the domestic and a 65% recovery in the international sectors.
BIAL, the airport operator, said several reasons, including relaunching key routes and introducing new routes connecting leading business hubs and travel destinations, contributed to the rapid recovery.
“As many as 24.36 million domestic passengers and 3.14 million international passengers travelled through KIA. The month of December recorded significant numbers,” BIAL said.
In the holiday season
The operator said there was a sharp increase in passenger numbers during the year-end holiday season. “As many as 3.13 million passengers travelled in December 2022 (2.74 million of them were domestic passengers) – surpassing the pre-COVID record of 3.06 million passengers in December 2019. On December 23, the airport recorded the highest number of passengers for 2022 at 1,07,825 pax,” BIAL said.
It added that there was an impressive 98% recovery in air transport movements vis-à-vis pre-COVID numbers, and domestic movements witnessed a 100% recovery.
75 destinations
BIAL said that after two challenging years of the pandemic, most airlines resumed their operations fully, connecting to an increased number of destinations in 2022. The airport is now connected to 75 destinations across India, an increase of 16 destinations, compared to pre-COVID.
Post-resumption of scheduled international operations in March 2022, direct flight service between Bengaluru and Sydney was started, and Emirates launched the A380 service to Dubai. Further, Air India’s thrice-weekly Bengaluru – San Francisco route was also resumed in December 2022.
“Other international airlines also resumed their flights to most major pre-COVID destinations in 2022,” BIAL said. The operator also said KIA is a preferred hub for transfer passengers due to its regional connectivity.
Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Kochi, and Hyderabad were the top domestic routes in 2022, contributing approximately 40% to domestic traffic. Dubai, Male, Singapore, Doha, and Abu Dhabi were the top international routes contributing approximately 47% to international traffic for KIA.
No. 1 for perishables
BIAL said for the second year in a row, KIA stood as the number 1 airport for perishables in India and is now identified as the third busiest airport processing international cargo in India.
“The COVID years were very challenging for us, but despite that, we are encouraged by the steady recovery in passenger traffic. Passenger comfort and seamless travel continue to be a priority, and in addition to this, our cargo partnerships have contributed to our business growth,” said Satyaki Raghunath, Chief Strategy & Development Officer of Bangalore International Airport Limited (BIAL).
Published - February 07, 2023 09:52 pm IST
