Bengaluru: Passengers traffic at the Kempegowda International Airport here spiked 23.8 per cent to 33.30 million in the fiscal ended March 2019, aided by domestic travel and addition of new flights, routes and new airlines, BIAL said on Monday.
The country's third largest airport had handled 26.91 million passengers in the fiscal year ending March 2018, Bangalore International Airport Ltd (BIAL), the operating company, said in a release.
"A record 33.30 million passengers transited through the Bangalore airport in the last fiscal, registering a growth 23.8 per cent over the year-ago period. The growth was driven by domestic passengers, which accounted for 24.8 per cent at 28.82 million," BIAL said.
Besides, another 4.48 million international passengers also used the airport, logging a growth of 17.5 per cent during the fiscal, it said.
The addition of new airlines and new routes to familiar destinations were the main driving factors for the growth, the release said.
Maintaining the quality experience for passengers poses a challenge, given the growth in passenger volumes the airport is currently witnessing, said Hari Marar, managing director and chief executive at BIAL.
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In order to support the growth, we have introduced several technology initiatives. The biometric-based self-boarding solutions, which is part of the government's Digi Yatra initiative is expected to be rolled out soon, Marar added.
On January 20 this year, the single-day passenger the record stood at 109,174 while the highest number of per day movement was recorded on January 11 at 750 arrivals and departures, the company said adding over 2.40 lakh aircraft movement were recorded during the period.
BIAL is currently undertaking expansion work. The Rs 13,000-crore second phase expansion entails construction of a new terminal, a second runway, access roads, and a multi-modal transport hub.
These works are scheduled to be completed by March 2021.
Meanwhile, work on the second runway and terminal, as well as other supporting infrastructure, is on at full throttle. All this will provide the airport sufficiently capacity to meet the demand over the next decade that this unprecedented growth has created," Marar said.
Air Traffic Movements (ATMs) increased by 21.8 per cent with a total of 240,251 landing and take-offs compared to 197,330 movements last year.
The average arrivals and departures per day for the year were 658, the release added.
