Kolkata, Chennai airports lag pre-COVID footfalls in H1 FY24

Total footfalls in H1 FY24 grew by 7.8 percent, with domestic traffic growing by 10.3 percent and international traffic shrinking by 2.4 percent.

Kolkata and Chennai, the only two Airports Authority of India (AAI)-operated airports amongst the top six metro airports in the country, have reported lesser footfalls in H1 FY24 than in H1 FY19, the last year before the COVID-19 pandemic, shows data released by AAI.

Chennai recorded a footfall of 1,05,30,273 passengers in the April-September period of 2023 (HI FY24). This was 7 percent lower than H1 FY19, when the airport witnessed a footfall of 1,13,25,821. Kolkata saw a footfall of 94,54,343 this year, down from 1,07,51,509 in H1 FY19, a steep fall of 12 percent. At Chennai, the drop was 8 percent in domestic passengers, while international footfalls fell by just 4.2 percent. At Kolkata, international traffic slipped by a steep 19 percent, while domestic traffic was down 11 percent during the year, compared to H1 FY19.

This comes amidst the other four metro airports showing recovery in their total traffic. Delhi, the largest airport in the country, saw footfalls of 3,56,92,074 passengers in H1 FY24, up more than 8 percent from FY19. International traffic grew 2.2 percent, while domestic traffic climbed 10 percent. Mumbai, the second-largest airport, saw 2,53,31,902 passengers in H1 FY24, which is 10.8 percent more than in H1 FY19. International footfalls grew 9 percent, while domestic footfalls showed a growth of 11 percent.

Bengaluru, the third-largest airport in the country by domestic traffic but fifth-largest by international traffic, saw total footfalls of 1,84,74,104. This was 11.8 percent higher than in H1 FY19. Domestic footfalls at 1,62,44,580 grew by a big 15 percent over H1 FY19. On the international side, traffic shrunk by 8.4 percent. Hyderabad also saw its international footfalls shrink by a marginal 0.6 percent, while its domestic footfalls grew 15.6 percent and total passenger footfalls were up 12.5 percent.

Beyond the top six

Interestingly, Kochi recorded the fourth-highest number of footfalls in International traffic, even ahead of Bengaluru, which recorded the same number of passengers in H1 FY24 and H1 FY19. However, the split between domestic and international passengers has changed. While international traffic grew by a marginal 3 percent, domestic footfalls shrunk by 2 percent. Ahmedabad, which was AAI-owned and operated pre-COVID and is now operated by Adani Airports, witnessed a 1 percent increase in footfalls.

Calicut and Thiruvananthapuram, which find places in the list of top 10 airports in India, saw a 10 percent and 15 percent drop in International footfalls in H1 FY24 versus H1 FY19, indicating that the traffic is not yet out of the woods for both these airports. Calicut has seen an uptick in domestic passengers with overall passengers seeing a blip of 7 percent, not as steep as international traffic. For Thiruvananthapuram, there has been a 4 percent growth in domestic footfalls. For Thiruvananthapuram, there has been a 4 percent growth in domestic footfalls.

Pune and Dabolim (Goa) face a number of operational limitations in terms of the availability of bays, terminal space, and runways among others since these are defense airfields. Yet, the two have been part of the top 10 domestic airports. Domestic traffic is so strong at these airports that it propelled them to the list of top 10 airports in the country by domestic and international footfalls put together.

Pune saw an increase in total footfalls by 15.5 percent, while Dabolim witnessed a drop of 14 percent in traffic, presumably due to the opening of Manohar International Airport, MOPA in North Goa, taking away some of its traffic.

Other major gateways

Srinagar has seen a 43 percent rise in footfalls, a clear sign of the normalisation of life in Srinagar and tourists embracing the destination. Coimbatore has seen a 10 percent growth, Amritsar saw 17.7 percent growth, Lucknow grew by 9 percent, Jaipur by 6 percent, Mangalore by 1 percent, and Guwahati by 4.2 percent. The airports at Ahmedabad, Lucknow, Guwahati, Jaipur, Thiruvananthapuram and Mangalore changed hands from AAI to Adani Airports in the middle of COVID-19. Adani group won the bids for these airports when they were put up for privatisation.

Some of the airports which have been predominantly serving international destinations have seen footfalls return to pre-COVID times. These include airports at Trichy.

How was the traffic overall?

In H1 FY24, the total footfall across airports in India was 18,32,74,515, according to the data released by AAI. This includes 15,03,34,868 domestic passengers (82 percent) and 3,29,39,647 international passengers (18 percent). In H1 FY19, the total number of footfalls was 17,00,21,124, of which 13,62,84,580 were domestic (80.1 percent) and 3,37,36,544 were international (19.9 percent).

Total footfalls in H1 FY24 grew by 7.8 percent, with domestic traffic growing by 10.3 percent and international traffic shrinking by 2.4 percent.

Airline companies in India are doubling down on pursuing international expansion. In the last few weeks of September and early October, they started flights to six new countries. Going forward, the traffic pattern for the current quarter looks cautiously optimistic.