New Delhi: The latest report from Global travel data provider – Official Airline Guide (OAG) confirmed that Indira Gandhi International Airport has emerged as the world’s second busiest airport in March in terms of total seat capacity and frequency of domestic and international flights.
According to the OAG’s latest report, United States’ Atlanta airport was ranked as the busiest airport in the world and retained its top spot. Whilst Atlanta retains its position as the largest, Dubai is knocked out of second place this month (March) by Delhi – which moves up from third place last month (February).
Interestingly, the Delhi airport was ranked 23rd place in March 2019 before the pandemic and has jumped 21 spots to reach the position. In March this year, airports in Atlanta in the US, Delhi in India, and Dubai in the UAE handled 4.42 million, 3.61 million, and 3.55 million seats, it mentioned.
In a statement, Videh Kumar Jaipuriar, CEO, of Delhi Airport International Limited (DIAL), said, “COVID-19 pandemic had hit the world hard. Travel restrictions had badly affected the travel and tourism sectors for two consecutive years.” But now, with the rise in the number of vaccinated people across the world, governments are easing travel restrictions and slowly opening up their borders, he said.
“India has last month opened its borders and allowed the entry of fully vaccinated international travellers into the country. These steps have largely helped the travel and tourism industry and given a much-needed boost to air travel,” he said.
(Smit Soni)
