RGIA among fastest growing airports in world

Hyderabad: International airports here and in Bengaluru figure in the list of top five fastest growing airports in the world last year in the more than 15 million passengers per annum category, according to Airports Council International, a trade association.

Kempegowda International Airport in Bengaluru topped the chart with 29.1 per cent growth in passenger traffic over 2017 while Hyderabad's Rajiv Gandhi International Airport(RGIA) owned by GMR is in third position with 21.9 per cent surge. Antlya Airport in Turkey stood at second position. Vnukovo Airport in Russia and Jinan Airport in China stood in fourth and fifth positions respectively.

Most of the world's fastest-growing airports are located in emerging markets, a significant proportion of them being in the Asia-Pacific region. As many as 12 of the fastest-growing top 30 airports in 2018 are located either in China or India, it said.

"India's move towards a more liberalised aviation market and the nation's strengthening economic fundamentals have helped it become one of the fastest-growing markets with its traffic growing rapidly in a relatively short time," ACI World Director General Angela Gittens said. ACI, the trade association of the world's airports serves 646 members, operating 1,960 airports in 176 countries.

On an average the airport handles close to 60,000 passengers and over 500 air traffic movements daily. In the last one year, the top five global destinations connecting Hyderabad International Airport included - USA, UAE, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Thailand, while on domestic front, the metros like - Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Kolkata, Chennai featured high on passenger demand.