Delhi’s IGIA airport overhauls Mumbai’s CSIA as India’s busiest
19 Nov 2009
New Delhi: The Indira Gandhi International Airport (IGIA) at New Delhi has displaced Mumbai's Chatrapati Shivaji International Airport (CSIA) as the country's busiest. According to the Airports Authority of India (AAI) data, Delhi has received marginally more passenger traffic up to the month of September for FY2009-10, with 12.2 million passengers, as compared to Mumbai's CSIA, which has received 12.1 million passengers.
The gap has steadily reduced over the years, with the numbers being 10.4 million for Delhi's IGIA in FY2003-04, even as it was 13.3 million for Mumbai's CSIA. For FY2008-09, comparable figures read 22.8 million for IGIA as compared to 23.4 million passengers for CSIA.
Industry experts say that IGIA is very likely to increase the gap over CSIA, primarily on account of international traffic. For the month of September international traffic at Delhi grew almost 4.8% over Mumbai's, which reported a decline of around 0.8% as compared to the year-ago period.
Factors responsible for the change of status would be the commissioning of a new runway at IGIA, as also the availability of additional slots for air carriers.