New Delhi: In India there are over 1oo airports. Out of them only 33 airports are there for international flights. Eventually the numbers has been growing after Port Blair joining the list this winter when AirAsia starts thrice-weekly service to Kuala Lumpur.
As per the data shared by an aviation analytics company, Ciriuman, revels that this November, the first full month of the winter schedule, will see 4,382 weekly international departures from India, a growth of 12% over 3,913 weekly international departures from last November. In terms of seats, the growth is similar at 11%. The detailed data shows that, smaller cities see faster flight growth compared to metro cities. But the distribution is not equal. The metro cities getting more flights than the smaller ones and shows significantly low growth rate than smaller ones. As per reports, nineteen airports showed more growth than the average 12%, while other 14 did not perform as well as the average. The three airports, Goa Dabolim, Nagpur, and Gaya will fly fewer international services this November as compared to the previous one.
Guwahati, Surat and Vizag, will record more than double flights in this November. The Coimbatore, Jaipur and Chandigarh will see 50% surge in flights this November. This surge is happening due to low starting point and addition of frequency. Vizag and Guwahati had four international flights per week in last November. The numbers will increase to nine and ten international flights a week in this November.
Delhi might witness below-average growth, with an 11% rise in international frequencies. The airport will see 90 additional weekly international flights. Similarly, the number of additional weekly international flights is 81 for Mumbai, 60 for Bengaluru, 38 for Kozhikode, 15 for Hyderabad, and 12 for Chennai. Ahmedabad and Trivandrum will see a rise of 22 and 27, respectively.
Delhi leads in international connectivity, with 70 destinations and 65 airlines offering services. Mumbai follows with 50 destinations and 52 airlines. Bengaluru, Chennai, and Hyderabad trail with 29, 25, and 20 international destinations, respectively, served by 32, 37, and 24 airlines. Kochi will have 25 airlines offering international services.
The schedule is expected to go bigger with time. Few more announcements are expected before November.
India’s international air connectivity is all set for a significant boost. The rapid expansion plans of IndiGo and Air India Express, paired with the induction of A321XLRs in IndiGo’s fleet next year, will open up new gateways. Indian carriers are expected to connect over 10 new destinations in the next six to eight months, primarily from metro cities. This expansion will strengthen India’s global connectivity and pave the way for future routes.
