Summer schedule begins at KIA; now fly to 47 domestic routes

The Kempegowda International Airport (KIA) here has commenced its summer schedule with the return of global carrier Gulf Air's daily flights to Bahrain, and the addition of two new domestic routes to connect 47 Indian destinations. This schedule will be in effect until October 27, 2018.

Gulf Air, scheduled to begin operations on May 1, 2018, will be the only airline to offer daily connectivity from Bengaluru to Bahrain. With this, Bengaluru will connect 22 international destinations (20 direct and two connecting).

On the domestic front, the two new routes are Vadodara (to be operated by Jet Airways and IndiGo) and Jammu (Indigo). Indigo rolled out two flights on March 25 to connect Vadodara via Kolkata and Jammu via Delhi. Jet Airways will operate a direct flight to Vadodara starting August 1.

During the 2018 summer, the daily Air Traffic Movements (ATMs) are expected to touch 666 per day (591 domestic and 75 international). This will progressively reach 687 per day (609 domestic and 78 international). During the course of the recently concluded winter schedule, the KIA recorded an average of 621 daily movements (547 domestic, 74 international).

The planned average international ATMs per day during the 2018 summer are expected to grow by 8%, while the domestic movements are expected to touch 14%. The overall growth forecast for the 2018 summer is pegged at 13%, up one percent from the 2017 summer.

During the 2018 summer, the hourly runway capacity will continue to be 38 ATMs per hour. Of the total international operations, the top four airlines Emirates, Etihad Airways, IndiGo and Jet Airways - operate 8.1% of the flights. Air India has a 7.6% share. IndiGo is the top domestic carrier with a share of 41.8% while Jet Airways (including JetLite) has a 15.5% share.

DH News Service

Airport crosses 150-mn flier mark

The KIA on Sunday crossed the 150-million passenger mark, a milestone since its commissioning in May 2008. The airport has recorded a year-on-year growth of 13%.

The first 50-million mark was achieved in 1,671 days, on December 19, 2012. An additional 50 million was achieved in 1,185 days - a growth of 41% over the previous 50-million mark. The next 50 million came in 737 days, the Bangalore International Airport Limited (BIAL) said in a statement.

In 2017, the KIA recorded 25.04 million passengers, the air traffic grew by 4.3% with 184,348 ATMs and the airport handled 339,461 metric tonnes of cargo.