Hyderabad airport clocks 10 mn passengers in a year

The Rajiv Gandhi International Airport (RGIA) here on Thursday achieved a milestone by clocking 10 million passengers in one year.

The milestone coincides with the RGIA's seventh anniversary which falls on March 23.

The airport during 2014-15 witnessed traffic growth of 20 percent over last year. The growth was 22 percent in domestic passenger traffic and 15 percent in international traffic.

The traffic growth numbers are higher than the average growth witnessed by other major Indian airports, said a statement by airport operator GMR Hyderabad International Airport Limited (GHIAL).

The RGIA has been consistently rated among the top three airports in the world in the 5-15 million passenger category as per the Airport Service Quality (ASQ) survey conducted by Airports Council International (ACI).

The airport is served by 15 international and five domestic airlines that connect Hyderabad to over 16 international and 25 domestic destinations.

The RGIA's cargo facility will also achieve a key milestone by crossing 100,000 tonnes during 2014-15. The cargo facility was built with a capacity for 150,000 tonnes per annum.

While air freight volumes in India have grown at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 7 percent, the RGIA recorded a 15 percent growth during 2014-15. Turkish and Qatar cargo launched new dedicated freighter service during the year.

"The airport had established itself as the gateway airport to south and central India," said Srinivas Bommidala, chairman (airports) for GMR Group.

"Our focus is now firmly on adding new routes/frequencies, bringing new carriers besides creating more amenities, options, improving security and service quality to our passengers as well as to all our stakeholders," said GHIAL CEO Kishore.