INDIA. The Adani Airport Holdings Limited (AAHL) airports served 14.25 million passengers in 2022, rising by around 100% year-on-year to reach pre-pandemic 2019 levels.
Domestic passenger numbers across all airports rose by +92% year-on-year while international traffic surged +133%. Domestic flight numbers were up by +58% and international flights increased +61%.
The surge in traffic followed the post-crisis reopening of routes and airports. “This upward trend is expected to continue, and it is anticipated that the number of trips people will take in a year will increase,” Adani, India’s largest airport infrastructure company, commented. “One of the factors driving this growth is the restart of tourism after the pandemic.”
Adani said the healthy traffic figures were also driven by positive sentiments among air travellers and a strong surge due to the festive holiday season.
It said such results reaffirmed the company’s attempts to promote passenger confidence through initiatives such as e-gates; barcode scanners; friendly and cooperative ground staff; Pranam Service (meet and greet); free wifi; automated parking systems; and enhanced retail and F&B offers.
Collectively such initiatives have improved the customer experience and safety standards across all airports, the group noted.
Strong start to 2023
Early 2023 passenger volumes are encouraging. Mumbai’s Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport (CSMIA) was the country’s second-busiest airport (behind Indira Gandhi International Airport in Delhi) for the first two months, recording nearly 8.44 million passenger movements. That comprised 2.22 million international and 6.22 million domestic passengers.
During the same period, Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport in Ahmedabad served 1.74 million domestic passengers (arriving and departing) and 283,379 international travellers. Jaipur International Airport, India’s 11th-busiest gateway last year, attracted nearly 880,000 domestic passengers and 69,300 international.
Lucknow’s Chaudhary Charan Singh International Airport (CCSIA), the busiest airport in Uttar Pradesh, served 1.04 million passenger movements across the two months, mostly domestic. Lokpriya Gopinath Bordoloi International, the gateway to Northeast India, attracted 902,694 passengers, up sharply year-on-year.
Thiruvananthapuram recorded 299,850 and 299,770 domestic and international passengers (departing and arriving), respectively. The airport has connectivity to ten domestic and 12 international destinations. Mangaluru saw increased traffic of 209,713 national and 84,356 foreign travellers.
Record daily traffic
Both CSMIA and CCSIA generated record passenger movements on a single day. The Mumbai gateway served around 1,51,543 travellers on 25 February while Lucknow drew more than 18,000 passengers on 31 January.
By 2040, India is expected to welcome 1 billion travellers, while 31 cities will have dual airport systems. The compound annual growth rate for the next 20 years is estimated to be around 8.5%, with fleet projections of over 2,500 aircraft. ✈
Skyhigh growthIndia’s per capita air passenger traffic (i.e. total air passengers/ total population) stands at 0.12. That compares with 2.7 (22x) for the United States and 0.31 (2.5x) for China, indicating massive potential for Indian aviation, Adani noted. India is expected to have 1 billion passengers by 2040 with an expected 8.5% CAGR for the next 20 years. As many as 31 cities are expected to have dual airport systems while Delhi-NCR, Mumbai metropolitan region and Bangalore will potentially have three. The number of operational airports is expected to exceed 200 with total capex requirement exceeding US$100 billion (including landside developments). The number of Adani airports serving over 10 million passengers in a year will increase from 7 to 47, the company said. This is supported by fleet projections of over 2,500 aircraft by 2040 (today, India has ~600 operational aircraft). With an increasing penetration of wide bodies within airline fleets, passenger traffic is expected to increase multifold as it will gear the Indian aviation market closer to a hub-based network, compared to the point-to-point structure today, Adani said. |
