Delhi Airport Beats New York’s JFK Airport; Becomes World’s 16th Busiest Airport!

This is a proud moment for every Indian out there. National Capital New Delhi has massively improved its services and is now ranked #16 in the global ranking.

This way, New Delhi has beaten New York’s JFK Airport, and this is indeed an achievement!

New Delhi Beats New York’s JFK Airport!

Airports Council International (ACI) has released their latest ranking of world’s busiest airports, and New Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International Airport has now reached the top 20 rankings.

IGI Airport is now ranked #16, dislodging New York’s famed John F. Kennedy International Airport.

ACI is a global association of airports, established for fostering greater cooperation, and unity among major cities. They currently serve 641 members operating from 1,953 airports across 176 countries.

GMR Group runs Delhi’s IGI was ranked #22 in 2016, which has now been ranked #16.

As per ACI’s latest report, by 2020, India will be world’s 3rd largest aviation market after US and China; and Delhi’s elevation the ranking clearly proves it.

Globally, Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport (ATL) was ranked #1 busiest airport, with 103 million passengers either arriving or departing in a year. Note here, that ATL witnessed 0.3% decline in traffic since 2016, but was still able to maintain its position.

The Rise Of Delhi Airport in 2017

Last year, Delhi Airport was ranked as worst in terms of accessibility and reliability, that too within India; and in 2014, in a global ranking, Delhi Airport was ranked 62nd in the entire world.

But since then, GMR and Delhi Airport officials have certainly pulled up their socks, and literally induced a revolution in terms of service and deliverability.

ACI, in their press release, said,

“Delhi, the country’s busiest airport for passenger traffic, grew by 14.1 per cent year-over-year at 63.45 million, pushing it up from 22nd to the 16th busiest airport in the world,”

In fact, despite being 16th busiest airport in the entire world, Delhi’s IGI has been ranked #1 in the Airport Service Quality for airports above 40 million passengers per annum. Mumbai Airport has also been ranked #1 in this ranking.

Besides Delhi and Mumbai, other fastest growing airports in India are Kolkata, Hyderabad, Bengaluru and Chennai, with a growth rate of 26.9%, 19.6%, 12.9% and 10.5% respectively.

ACI said about India:

“With an astounding population base of over 1.3 billion inhabitants, the move towards a more liberalised aviation market coupled with stronger economic fundamentals has helped to awaken the Bengal tiger to become one of the fastest growing markets in the world.”

It seems ACI hasn’t yet considered Govt. of India’s ambitious Udaan scheme for connecting Tier 2 and rural India with air routes, and to increase air travel across pan-India.

We will keep you updated, as we receive more inputs.