Late on Sunday night, Bengaluru added another feather in its cap, as the Kempegowda International Airport (KIA) handled its 15 millionth passenger this fiscal, making it the first from south India to enter the mid-sized airport category (15 million to 25 million) in the world.
In the process, the seven year-old greenfield airport also established itself as south India’s busiest, and is likely to end this financial year by handling 15.24 million passengers. The KIA will now also be the third busiest airport in country after Delhi and Mumbai.
The KIA, operated by the GVK–led Bangalore International Airport Ltd. (BIAL), reported 19.3 per cent growth over the previous financial year when 12.86 million passengers were handled, said a press release.
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Some other mid-sized airports in the world include Abu Dhabi, Berlin TXL, Brisbane, Brussels, Dublin, Seoul GMP, Stockholm ARN, and Zurich, and the KIA will now be compared with them on the airport service quality index by the Airports Council International, which also categorises airports based on passenger traffic.
The elevation to the mid-sized airport category would mean, sources explained, generation of interest in the KIA by those airlines that are not connected to Bengaluru. “The new status elevates Bengaluru in the global standing and accompanying advantage in terms of a larger network.” At the same time, sources said, the airport would be assessed for quality based on 36 parameters.
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Of the total passenger traffic, domestic traffic increased by 21.4 per cent, the international traffic grew by 11.2 per cent and the air traffic movements grew by 13.2 per cent this fiscal to reach 1.3 lakh.