BLR airport investing Rs 13k crore on expansion

Bengaluru: The Kempegowda International Airport, Bengaluru (KIAB or BLR Airport) welcomed 33.65 million passengers during the calendar year 2019, registering a 4.1 per cent growth, compared to previous year's 32.33 million.

While international passenger traffic witnessed double-digit growth of 14.0 per cent, an upswing from 4.27 million in CY 2018 to 4.87 million in CY 2019, domestic traffic grew by 2.6 per cent, from 28.05 million to 28.78 million.

The year 2019 has been a turbulent year for Indian aviation, mostly impacted by the closure of a large airline and supply-side challenges caused by the grounding of some aircraft types, according to a BLR airport statement.

These factors had a ripple effect as the ATMs at BLR Airport were down by 0.1 per cent as against the double-digit CAGR witnessed in the previous five years (CY14 to CY18). The total ATMs during 2019 was 235,058 as compared 235,190 in CY 2018.

Notably, international movements remained on the upswing, growing by 13.0 per cent with a total of 30,556 ATMs as compared to 26,966 ATMs in CY 2018, owing to the launch of new routes and new flights during Winter 2018.

Domestic movements saw a slump of 1.8 per cent to 204,502 ATMs from 208,224 ATMs in CY 2018. Meanwhile, domestic cargo remained positive, registering a 4.1 per cent growth.