Delhi airport gears up for busiest winter ever with over 1,500 daily flights

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Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International Airport (IGIA) is expected to see more flights this winter than it did before the Covid-19 pandemic. For the first time, daily aircraft movements at IGIA could cross 1,500, surpassing pre-pandemic levels from 2019.

In 2019, IGIA handled around 1,500 aircraft movements per day, including scheduled, non-scheduled, VIP, and government flights. After the pandemic, this figure dropped but steadily recovered to about 1,450 flights daily. Now, air traffic control (ATC) officials say the winter schedule, effective from October 26, includes a combined total of 1,520 flights, which will be the highest ever.

“This winter, we are going to cross that figure for the first time," The Times of India quoted senior air traffic control officials as saying.

In comparison, Mumbai’s Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport (CSMIA), India’s second-busiest hub, handles about 1,000 daily movements. Mumbai had already reached pre-Covid levels nearly two years ago.

In terms of passenger traffic, both Delhi and Mumbai had already surpassed their 2019 numbers by 2022.

Noida airport won’t impact Delhi’s traffic

The upcoming Noida International Airport (NIA), expected to start operations in December, is unlikely to affect Delhi’s flight volume immediately. Airline officials say no major carrier will shift flights from IGIA to NIA because Delhi remains heavily slot-constrained.

"Airlines will add new flights to and from NIA. They are not going to shift flights from IGIA to NIA, as the former is highly slot-constrained," according to officials from various airlines. This means Delhi’s total aircraft movement will stay strong even after NIA opens.

The 2019 summer and winter schedules together saw about 1,350 flights a day at IGIA. But after Covid, flight schedules ranged between 1,258 and 1,380 until mid-2024.

All runways, terminals fully functional

For the first time in years, all four runways and three terminals at IGIA are fully functional. Airline officials say this will allow smoother operations despite increased flight numbers. “If airlines operate close to their approved schedules and there are no infrastructure hurdles, such as runway closures or CAT-III issues, Delhi will witness record aircraft movements this winter,” TOI quoted an airline official as saying.

Among the major airlines, IndiGo, the Air India group, and Akasa Air are expected to operate close to their approved schedules. IGIA currently has the capacity to handle more than 10 crore passengers annually and recorded 7.8 crore travellers in 2024.

However, rating agency ICRA recently revised its overall airport passenger traffic growth projection in FY 2026 to 5-7% YoY, likely to be the lowest post-Covid, from the earlier 7-9% estimate. It stated: "This is a result of the cross-border tensions and lower aircraft availability owing to fleet inspections post the fatal aircraft crash in June 2025, that compressed passenger traffic growth during five months in FY2026."