Writer: Tabish
Description: The capital’s Indira Gandhi International Airport became the 10th busiest airport in the world in October, rising its ranking from pre-pandemic.
Aviation analytics firm OAG said in a report that Delhi airports improved from 14th in October 2019, before the pandemic. In October 2022, Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport was the busiest in the world.
OAG ratings are based on scheduled airline capacity for this month and compared to the same month in 2019 before the pandemic. The list of the 10 busiest airports in the world is based on the total capacity of domestic and international airports. After Atlanta, Dubai Airport and Tokyo Haneda Airport came in second and third, respectively.
“When compared to October 2019, 6 of the Top 10 this month were also among the world’s Top 10 busiest airports then; airports which have seen their rankings rise, bringing them into the Top 10 now, are Dallas/Fort Worth (from 12th to 4th), Denver (from 20th to 5th), Istanbul (from 13th to 8th), and Delhi (from 14th to 10th),” OAG said in the report on its website.
According to OAG, Delhi Airport, also known as Indira Gandhi International Airport, has a capacity of 34,13,855 people.
The Indian aviation sector is recovering from the severe impact of the coronavirus pandemic, which suspended regular international flights for more than two years from March 2020. According to the OAG report, London Heathrow Airport ranked 6th, Chicago International Airport 7th, and Los Angeles International Airport 9th.
Another OAG report found that Mumbai to Dubai and Delhi to Dubai flights were among the top 10 busiest international routes. The busiest airline routes are those with the most reserved seats between October 2021 and September 2022.
“Based on passenger booking data for the period August 2021 – July 2022, eight of the top 10 largest unserved routes start or end in North America. New York features in three of the routes with Quito – New York (UIO-JFK) the largest market, with more than enough passengers to potentially sustain a direct service,” the report said.
OAG also said that another New York route includes India’s largest city, Mumbai (BOM-JFK), which has served nearly 82,000 passengers in 12 months and is currently operating indirect flights between the two cities.
