AVIATION HUB
Airport reports highest percentage of passenger growth among airports in country in 2017
STAFF REPORTER
GUWAHATI, Aug 7: In what can be termed as a significant development in the field of aviation, the Airports Authority of India (AAI) has ranked Lokapriya Gopinath Bordoloi International (LGBI) Airport at Borjhar here as the eighth busiest airport in the country.
According to data available with the AAI, LGBI Airport in the city, the first and lone international airport in the Northeast, reported 31 per cent passenger growth in 2017, which is the highest among the 12 busiest airports in the country. The airport had handled 34,52,803 passengers in 2016 which went up to 45,32,827 in 2017.
Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose International Airport, Kolkata, came second with 28 per cent growth in the number of passengers between 2016 and 2017. The volume of passengers in Kolkata airport, however, was much more than that of Guwahati with the former airport reporting 18,882,179 passengers in 2017.
Jaipur came third with 24 per cent growth in handling passengers, followed by Pune (23 per cent), Hyderabad and Ahmedabad (both 20 per cent), Goa (17 per cent), Delhi (14 per cent), Bangalore (13 per cent), Chennai and Kochi (11 per cent ) and Mumbai (6 per cent).
With the footfall of over 46 lakh passengers LGBI airport last year handled a total of 41,172 aircraft movements making it the eighth busiest in the country. The first seven airports are of Chennai, Kolkata, Ahmedabad, Pune, Goa, Jaipur and Lucknow, all under the AAI.
“Guwahati has become the aviation hub for the Northeast as around 120 commercial flights (both arrivals and departures) being operated from LGBI Airport every day. The number of such flights is expected to be doubled in the coming days,” an AAI official said.
On other hand, LGBI Airport is scheduled to get a swanky new terminal building by March 2021. The new building, spread over 90,000 square metres, will be equipped with world-class passenger facilities and have the capacity to handle 3,100 passengers during peak hours. The interiors of the building will depict local handicrafts, murals and popular tourist destinations of the State.