Delhi airport 2nd busiest in March, jumps 21 places to displace Dubai

Atlanta airport in US and Delhi airport in India handled the most number of seats, domestic and international, in March, according to a report by Official Airline Guide (OAG), a global travel data provider.

Delhi Airport was placed 23rd in March 2019 before the pandemic and third in February 2022, as per the report.

“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),” OAG’s report mentioned.

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. These were both in international and domestic passengers.

“COVID-19 pandemic had hit the world hard. Travel restrictions had badly affected the travel and tourism sectors for two consecutive years,” Videh Kumar Jaipuriar, CEO, Delhi Airport International Limited (DIAL), said.

“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,” he said.

These steps have largely helped the travel and tourism industry and given a much-needed boost to air travel, he said.

Delhi however did not find mention in the top international airports to handle passengers. Dubai topped the list and was followed by London’s Heathrow airport, Amsterdam airport, Paris’s Charles de Gaulle airport, and Germany’s Frankfurt airport.

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The other significant move in the OAG data is Guangzhou airport in China which has fallen from fourth busiest last month to 10th busiest this month as a result of ongoing restrictions in China.

Frankfurt and Istanbul swapped places from 6th and 5th largest last month to 5th and 6th this month.

New York’s JFK airport dropped out of the Top 10 to be replaced by London’s Gatwick airport whose South Terminal is reopening for a busy summer season ahead.

The rankings are based on scheduled frequency in the current month, and compared to the equivalent month in 2019, pre-pandemic.