The annual passenger traffic at major city airports including Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru, and Hyderabad has surged beyond pre-Covid levels, marking a significant recovery in air travel since the pandemic-induced downturn. However, data from the Airports Authority of India reveals that only Mumbai and Bengaluru have surpassed pre-Covid levels in terms of air traffic or the total number of flights operated to and from the airports.
According to the data, Mumbai airport has maintained its position for the third consecutive year by recording the highest year-on-year growth in passenger traffic among Indian metro airports. Between April 2023 and March 2024, Mumbai saw approximately 53 million passengers, marking a remarkable 20% increase in comparison to the previous year, TOI reported.
The largest airport in the country, Delhi, managed around 74 million passengers, experiencing a notable 13% growth. Meanwhile, Bengaluru handled 37 million passengers, marking an impressive 18% growth rate. These figures surpass the pre-Covid peaks of 2018-19, indicating a significant recovery in air travel.
Kolkata and Chennai airports are lagging behind pre-Covid levels in terms of passenger and air traffic numbers. The peak of Indian air travel was observed in 2018-19, with the onset of the pandemic in 2020 exacerbating the situation. However, the decline began earlier, in the summer of 2019, following the suspension of operations by Jet Airways. In the fiscal year 2018-19, Delhi airport managed nearly 70 million passengers. Despite nearing the pre-pandemic figure with 65 million passengers in 2022-2023, it recently surpassed this milestone by recording 73 million passengers for the year ending March 31.