Indian airports soar as transit hubs for international travellers

Country's 6 leading airports see near doubling of foreign transit trafficin a yr

- DEEPAK PATEL

Major Indian airports are increasingly becoming global connecting hubs, with international transit traffic for Indian carriers nearly doubling over the past year.

The number of international passengers on Indian carriers passing through six major Indian airports Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai, Bengaluru, and Hyderabad to reach their final destinations increased by 97.09 per cent year-on-year (Y-o-Y) to 68,305 in February, according to aviation analytics firm Cirium's data reviewed by Business Standard. The top six final destinations for these transit passengers were Dhaka, Kathmandu, Colombo, Bangkok, Singapore, and Dubai.

This growth is being capitalised more by full-service carriers, such as Air India and Vistara, than by low-cost carriers like IndiGo. In absolute numbers, IndiGo's international transit traffic through the six airports increased by 48.6 per cent Y-o-Y in February 2024.

Acording to Cirium's data, the share of transit traffic in IndiGo's total international traffic saw only a small increase from 2.17 per cent in February 2023 to 2.49 per cent in February 2024.

In contrast, the share of transit traffic in Air India's total international traffic surged from 2.84 per cent in February 2023 to 5.2 per cent in February 2024.

Vistara saw a similar trend, with its share of transit traffic in total international traffic soaring from 2.54 per cent in February 2023 to 5.35 per cent in February 2024.

Senior airport executives in the country attribute the boom in transit traffic for Air India and Vistara to their status as full-service carriers. "Full-service carriers provide a consistent service to passengers travelling on multi-leg journeys.