Bangalore International Airport Ltd (BIAL) has handled over 14.38 million passengers in 2014. A resurgent domestic aviation market saw new airlines and routes, resulting in a 14 per cent increase in air traffic movements (ATMs), with an average of 359 ATMs per day.
Domestic ATMs increased by 15.4 per cent to 110,773 in 2014, while international ATMs rose to 20,330. The airport handled 12.5 per cent more passengers than last year’s, making it the third busiest airport in the country.
The domestic traffic recorded an annual growth of 13.5 per cent to 11.55 million passengers at the end of the year. International passenger traffic grew at 9 per cent.
This year also marked the opening of the extended terminal with enhanced facilities, along with new commercial offering and the capacity to handle 20 million passengers annually.
“A focused approach centred around the passenger experience has paid rich dividends, making the KIA (Kempegowda International Airport), Bengaluru, a strategic aviation hub in seven years of operations,” said GV Sanjay Reddy, Managing Director, BIAL.
Cargo volumes handled at KIA in 2014 grew by 13.7 per cent compared with 2013 to reach 270,840 tonnes. The highest domestic cargo tonnage turnover of 10,744 tonnes was recorded in September—38 per cent month-on-month growth.
In a new initiative to improve efficiency and accuracy, reduce turnaround times and paper usage, KIA became the first airport in the country to be IATA e-freight compliant.
Operational efficiency The airport’s continuous focus on customer experience resulted in new quality benchmarks, assured service levels and high reliability, say officials. On-Time Performance (OTP) touched 88 per cent or above through most months.
Further, baggage delivery time was managed with the first baggage being dropped on the belt within eight minutes of parking of the flight, for both domestic and international arrivals, and the last baggage being dropped within 15 minutes for domestic arrivals and 38 minutes for international arrivals.