"Indian airports show record growth"

Monday, November 22, 2004

Indian airports show record growth
The Economic Times of India


Indian airports have shown record growth in passenger and cargo traffic in
the first six months of the financial year.

Measured by growth in passenger traffic alone, Indian airports are the
fastest growing in the world today. "Passenger numbers grew 24% in the April
to September 2004 period, more than double the growth in the corresponding
period last year," Airport Authority of India sources said.

Cargo handled in the April-September grew 20.5% compared to a global average
of 10% growth, though the latter figure is for the January-June'04 period
and is thus no strictly comparable.

However, global trends are unlikely to have changed much over the July
-September quarter. The Geneva-based Airports Council International (ACI),
the international association of the world's airports, has released figures
for the January to June'04 period, which shows that the only airports with
higher growth than India are those that were affected by SARS in 2003.

For example, Bangkok airport passenger traffic grew 31.4%, Singapore grew
35.5% and Beijing grew 69%, mainly because these were virtually deserted
last year. Most airports in mature markets showed single digit growth
numbers.

In India, domestic traffic grew 26.5% and international passenger traffic
recorded a 19.2% growth. Passenger numbers increased to 9 million from 7.52m
on the international sectors, while domestic numbers grew to 18.52 m from
14.64m, AAI sources said.

"The figures are likely to be much higher for the current quarter because of
the limited open skies policy."


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