Small-town India is jet-setting overseas like never before
Icra Ltd. This, he said, was largely attributable to rising demand for international travel for leisure, jobs—primarily in the Middle East—and studies. India's aviation market—the world's third largest and also the fastest growing—is on the cusp of a boom as the economy expands and incomes rise, prompting airlines to add capacity.
Much of the demand is expected to be generated from outside Metro airports, some of which are already grappling with capacity constraints. Take Bhubaneswar for example. Accorded the international status in 2013, overseas traffic at the airport more than doubled from a year earlier to 41,510 passengers in April-July, and it was 48% higher than the pre-covid levels.
The airport was connected to Kuala Lumpur and Bangkok in 2019, and now offers flights to Singapore, Dubai, and Bangkok as well. Amritsar reported a 29% year-on-year growth in April-July to 344,541 overseas flyers—a 32% jump from prior to covid. Passengers flying abroad from Kozhikode rose 15% on year and more than 3% over the pre-covid level to over 1 million passengers in April-July.
The jump at Lucknow was 33% year-on-year and 40% over same period in 2019 to nearly 370,000 passengers. To be sure, Delhi, India’s largest airport by traffic, handled 6.8 million overseas passengers in April-July, 15% higher on year and over 18% more than the pre-pandemic levels. Second-ranked Mumbai reported a 12% increase to around 5 million international travellers, while state-run Chennai airport reported a 3% increase over a year earlier to 2 million international passengers, nearly the same as the pre-covid period.
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