GMR vs Adani airport battle continues to be on the boil
Live MintIndia recorded its best-ever domestic traffic in 2023, a year ahead of IATA’s prediction of post-COVID recovery. The first half of the financial year saw a growth in footfalls by 7.4 per cent, with 19,69,06,698 passengers between April and September this year as compared to 18,32,74,515 recorded last year, shows data released by the Airports Authority of India. The six metro airports handled 72.3 per cent of the total footfalls, which is 0.5 per cent lower than the same period last year, a healthy indication of traffic moving beyond the metros, even for international traffic. Among the six metro airports, Bengaluru has grown the fastest with 20.4 per cent growth, followed by Delhi, Hyderabad and Mumbai. The two other metros where the airports are owned and operated by AAI saw a marginal decline in traffic, with Chennai seeing a 0.5 per cent degrowth while Kolkata recorded a 0.7 per cent regrowth.