Numberspeak | At Over 570 Fliers Per Minute, India’s Domestic Air Traffic at All-Time High

Surpassing all previous records, India’s domestic air passenger traffic reached an all-time high between April and November 2023, with over 570 people flying per minute on an average. The official numbers analysed by News18 also show that the total passenger traffic has surpassed all past records, even as the international passenger load is yet to cross the pre-Covid numbers.

The data from the Airports Authority of India (AAI) shows that between April and November 2023, the total air passenger traffic in India touched 24.52 crore, including 20.08 crore domestic passengers and 4.44 crore international travelers.

The numbers have reported a significant increase in the past few years, particularly as the country steps out of the shadow of the Covid infection.

When compared to the April-November period of 2019, 2023 saw an 8% rise in domestic passengers. From 2014, the numbers in 2023 have reported around a 120% jump.

With the consistent rise in the domestic passenger load, the total number of passengers has surpassed all the previous records, including the pre-Covid numbers. When compared to 2014, the total air passengers have doubled for the April-November period, while from 2019, there has been a 6% rise.

On the other hand, the international air passenger traffic is about 2% lower than 2019, even as it has reported a 35% jump from 2014.

FIVE CITIES HOLDS 50% OF THE TRAFFIC

Five major metro cities in India – Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore, Chennai and Kolkata – have more than half of the total passenger traffic. Of the total 24.52 crore passengers who took a flight between April and November in 2023, 13.33 crore were in these cities, with Delhi having the highest share at 4.78 crore. In 2022 as well, Delhi stood at the top position with 4.14 crore passengers. In 2022, too, these five cities reported the highest air passenger traffic.

Both the years, Mumbai was at the second position, with 3.40 crore passengers in 2023 and 2.69 crore passengers in 2022.

The only difference in 2023 was that Bengaluru was at the third position with passenger traffic of 2.46 crore. In 2022, Hyderabad was at the third position with 1.33 crore passengers, while Bengaluru was next with 1.95 crore passengers.