KIA in top five fastest growing airports in the world

Bengaluru: International airports in Bengaluru and Hyderabad figure in the list of top five fastest-growing airports in the world last year in the more than 15 million passengers per annum category, according to Airports Council International, a trade association.

Kempegowda International Airport in Bengaluru topped the chart with 29.1 per cent growth in passenger traffic over 2017 while and Rajiv Gandhi International Airport with 21.9 per cent surge is in the third position with Antalya Airport in Turkey in the second position.

Vnukovo Airport in Russia and Jinan Airport in China stood in fourth and fifth positions respectively, the release issued on Tuesday said.

Most of the world’s fastest-growing airports are located in emerging markets, a significant proportion of them being in the Asia-Pacific region.

As many as 12 of the fastest-growing top 30 airports in 2018 are located either in China or India, it said.

“India’s move towards a more liberalized aviation market and the nation’s strengthening economic fundamentals have helped it become one of the fastest-growing markets with its traffic growing rapidly in a relatively short time,” ACI World Director General Angela Gittens said.

ACI, the trade association of the world’s airports serves 646 members, operating 1,960 airports in 176 countries.

With nearly 70 million passengers, Delhi Airport stood in 12th position climbing four steps compared to 2017.

However, none of the Indian aerodromes figured in the top 20 in terms of cargo handling.

The world’s top three airports for passenger traffic volume Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, Beijing Capital International Airport, and Dubai International Airport respectively have held their positions while Los Angeles International Airport (fourth) and Tokyo International Airport (fifth) have swapped places in the top five from last year.