Indian non-metro cities are potential sources of demand: Abu Dhabi airport
Mint in an exclusive interaction. Secondary markets (non-metro cities) are rapidly becoming a very important market size-wise for the growth that these cities are experiencing and these airports are experiencing. "In order to allow us to use our infrastructure more efficiently, we are in talks with airlines to serve those secondary markets.
Hopefully, we are going to have some announcements very soon," she said. India accounts for 21% of the total international traffic to and from Abu Dhabi international airport, officially known as Zayed International Airport. This is the primary international airport serving Abu Dhabi, the capital of the United Arab Emirates.
The total traffic between India and Abu Dhabi has jumped to 4.8 million passengers for 2023, a growth of more than 26% since the pre-pandemic year of 2019 when the total passenger traffic stood at 3.8 million passengers. Abu Dhabi is connected with 15 cities in India—Delhi, Mumbai, Hyderabad, Chennai, Bengaluru, Kolkata, Kochi, Mangaluru, Ahmedabad, Tiruchirappalli, Thiruvananthapuram, Kannur, Kozhikode, Goa, and Lucknow—as per the data for October-December from the Directorate General of Civil Aviation. The airport, which was earlier 80% connected by Etihad airline, has now opted for a more diversified model under which it is encouraging more foreign airlines to launch flights to Abu Dhabi.
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