With the passenger traffic at the Kempegowda International Airport (KIA) growing by 22.5% in 2016, the KIA continues to retain the tag of the busiest airport in south India. In 2016, the airport received 22.18 million passengers. The airport also recorded the highest number of passenger traffic in south India in December, with 2.15 million using the facility. Meanwhile, air traffic movement (ATM) witnessed an increase of 19.9%.
“The year 2016 was yet another strong year for BLR airport. We have grown exponentially in terms of passenger traffic,” G.V. Sanjay Reddy, managing director, Bangalore International Airport, which operates the airport, said in press release.
Growth was recorded in domestic and international passengers, which stood at 25.5% and 9% respectively. The airport, which is used by around 60,000 passengers every day, also saw cargo operations reaching new highs, with an overall growth of 9.4%. In November last year, the airport handled a record total of 2 million tonnes of cargo since it began operations in May 2008.
Last year was also an important year in terms of airport going digital, with the launch of the BLR Airport app and a Twitter hashtag to provide automated notification to passengers on flights.
The airport also maintained operational efficiency, with on-time performance touching 89%.
The current runway will be upgraded to support the growing air traffic. Once the upgrading of the current runway is completed, the airport’s capacity to handle flights will increase from 34 ATMs to 44 ATMs an hour. The capacity is being enhanced with the building of two rapid exit taxiways that will increase runway capacity, the release said.
Work on Terminal 2
The work on the Terminal 2 of KIA, which has been designed by U.S.-based Skidmore, Owings and Merrill, will commence this year and will be done in two phases. While the phase 1 will cater to 25 million passengers annually, phase 2 will cater to 20 million passengers. Once completed, the combined handling capacity of T1 and T2 will be 65 million passengers annually.
The second runway, which will be ready by September 2019, will have CAT III B ILS facility and will cater to all aircraft, including A380 in all-weather conditions. The work on the second runway started in February 2016.
The figures
Number of passengers in 2016: 22.18 million
Domestic passengers: 18.62 million
International passengers: 3.56 million
Female to male passenger ratio: 38:62
Domestic to international passenger ratio: 84:16
Served 45 airlines to 66 destinations
Total air traffic movement: 1,76,797
Highest air traffic movement: 554 in November
On an average, airport serves 60,000 passengers a day
Highest single day traffic so far recorded was in December: 75,515
Airport also welcomed 100 millionth passenger in 2016
The airport had a record-breaking 2 million passengers travelling in November 2016 and an all-time monthly high of 2.15 million passengers in December 2016
Baggage delivery time is with the first baggage on an average delivered within 8 minutes of parking of the flight
The average airport taxi waiting time was clocked at 7 minutes
Total cargo: 3,14,060 MT
