Hyderabad, Bengaluru shine among metro airports in footfall growth; new Noida, Navi Mumbai facilities set for takeoff

The Airports Authority of India (AAI) declared the footfalls at Indian airports for the last financial year. Delhi continued to be the largest airport in the country in both Domestic and International footfalls, having an unassailable lead over Mumbai, which maintained its second position. 

The fastest growth was accounted for by Hyderabad airport, which saw a growth of 17.3 per cent in FY25 (April 2024 to March 2025) as compared to the previous financial year. Kolkata came in next with a 12.1 per cent growth, Bengaluru followed with 9.7 per cent when it comes to domestic footfalls. Chennai recorded 8 per cent growth, while Delhi and Mumbai recorded 6.4 per cent and 2.7 per cent growth, respectively. Both Mumbai and Delhi are congested with limited scope to grow and have a large base, making a double-digit growth impossible. On the international side, Bengaluru reported the highest growth at 25 per cent followed by Hyderabad at 12.3 per cent. Delhi reported a 10 per cent growth, while Mumbai saw an 8.9 per cent increase in footfalls. Both Chennai and Kolkata saw shrinking footfalls marginally, with Kolkata seeing a drop of 4 per cent while Chennai saw a marginal drop of 0.4 per cent.

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In absolute terms, on the domestic front, Hyderabad maintained its lead with addition of 36 lakh passengers while Delhi, which grew only 6.4 per cent, saw an addition of nearly 35 lakh more passengers over the previous year. Bengaluru added 31.8 lakh, Kolkata saw an addition of 20.95 lakh and Chennai handled 12.2 lakh more passengers while Mumbai saw 10.2 lakh more passengers in the last fiscal compared to the previous one.

On the international side, Delhi saw the maximum addition with 20 lakh more footfalls than the previous year, followed by Mumbai, which saw 12.7 lakh more footfalls. Bengaluru was close with 11.7 lakh, while Hyderabad saw an addition of 5.1 lakh footfalls. The total traffic saw Hyderabad record 16.5 per cent growth, followed by Bengaluru (11.6 per cent), Kolkata (10.3 per cent), Delhi (7.6 per cent), Chennai (5.7 per cent) and Mumbai (4.4 per cent). In absolute traffic, Delhi handled 55 lakh more passengers, the highest, while Chennai handled the least incremental passengers among the six metros at 12 lakh.

Non-Metro airports gaining ground

The last few years have seen the non-metro airports grow their share in total footfalls. While International is governed by Bilateral Air Services Agreement (BASA) with little leeway to start flights beyond the points of call, the shift in domestic flights is higher. The six metro’s contribute 57.8 per cent of total footfalls, a number which was above 70 per cent only a decade ago.

This is an indicator that traffic is moving beyond the six metros. The next set of metros like Ahmedabad, Kochi, Goa, Pune, Lucknow, Jaipur and Guwahati are also seeing an increased connectivity to various parts of the country.

Which airports were shining beyond the metros?

The countrywide footfall growth was a modest 9.4 per cent. Airports with very low footfalls in the past saw the highest growth, with airports like Ziro, Rourkela, Diu, Deoghar and Kullu recording growth over 50 per cent, which is 1.5 times the traffic of the previous year. Prayagraj saw a growth of 76 per cent over the previous year, which was concentrated in February, due to the once-in-a-lifetime event of Maha Kumbh taking place.

Airports at Amritsar, Coimbatore, Surat, Varanasi, Vijayawada, Ahmedabad, Mangalore, Aurangabad, and Bhopal were some of the other airports which have seen traffic higher than average.

Major changes coming up this year

Two new major airports are slated to start operations later this year; the Noida International Airport at Jewar and Navi Mumbai airport have had their trial flights done and are awaiting final clearances and licences. Mumbai airport plans to take down Terminal 1 and shift some movements to Navi Mumbai International Airport. In this case, both airports are operated by a single operator, unlike the two airports at Delhi. The shifting of flights from Mumbai’s CSMIA to Navi Mumbai airport will lead to Mumbai airport dropping in terms of ranking, propelling Bengaluru to the number two spot in India.

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This will also open up new connections and slots for the two major cities in India, leading to an increase in connectivity, which means the focus will again be on non-metro routes. Capacity will also be available at Guwahati (New Terminal), Lucknow (runway repairs) and Goa-Mopa (Expansion), which will see the secondary cities gain even more.

While the focus remains on airlines in India, the airport sector will be more buzzing in years to come.