GMR Hyderabad International Airport Records Over 21 Million Passengers Per Annum (mppa) in 2022-23

With the economic recovery, higher consumer spends, aviation- friendly government policies along with infrastructure development the Indian aviation industry has started to show a considerable recovery across domestic and international travel sectors.

As we moved into 2022, the year saw a continued boost in consumer confidence in air travel. With this breakthrough, GMR Hyderabad International Airport recorded a very strong growth trajectory in 2022-23.

The domestic and international passenger traffic increased considerably, domestic airline increased their load factors despite supply chain issues across the world, air traffic movements (ATMs) showed an uptick and new domestic and international travel destinations were added from Hyderabad Airport attracting more travelers from across the southern region.

The airport has witnessed more than 21 Million passengers during 2022-23. Among them, 17.6 MPPA were domestic passengers and more than 3.4 MPPA were international passengers. The total no. of ATMs during the same period was 160,597 of which 137,640 were domestic ATMs and 22,957 international ATMs.

Compared to pre-Covid figures (2019-20), the passenger traffic has recovered.

Compared to pre-Covid figures (2019-20), the passenger traffic has recovered by over 97% during 2022-23. Infact, the transfer traffic also increased from 13% to 22% in the year 2022-23.

Along with the MNCs and Corporate, Hyderabad has strong VFR (Visiting Friends and Relatives), Tourists, MSME (Micro Small and Medium Enterprises) and Student traffic. In the last two years, VFR (Visiting Friends and Relatives), Tourists, MSME (Micro Small and Medium Enterprises) and Student traffic has helped HYD Airport recover faster than any other Metro Airport in India. We have witnessed the recovery at a very consistent paceHyderabad International Airport (HYD) is envisioned to be a major travel hub for people travelling from Southern and Central India. As a preferred and largest transit hub, it offers convenient proximity for passengers originating from nearby cities. Airlines can connect to any part of India within a flying time of ~ 2 hrs.

Internationally, airlines can connect to South Asia, Southeast Asia & the Middle East within a flying time of 4 hrs and can also support the traffic requirement for long haul flights to the USA, Europe & Australia. Infact, we have seen a strong O&D traffic to USA, Europe ,Africa, South East Asia, and Australia to compliment the hub traffic in Hyderabad.

Hyderabad has emerged as the 4th busiest airport in India in terms of annual passenger traffic from its earlier position of 6th busiest airport in India.

The post-Covid growth in the destinations being connected from HYD Airport has been remarkable during 2022-23, it has added 3 new domestic sectors. Hyderabad International Airport is now connected to over 70 domestic destinations, from the pre- Covid period of 55 domestic destinations. The UDAN initiative, which is aimed to bolster the regional connectivity of travellers to Tier II-Tier III cities has further boosted the connectivity across India.

Though overall international travel was subdued during the prolonged Covid-19 pandemic, HYD airport is now connected to its earlier favourite destinations like Singapore, Qatar, Sharjah, Doha and Kuwait to name a few. Recently the Hyderabad-Colombo flight has been resumed. A wide-body service to Singapore has been introduced. Dhaka, Baghdad and Don Mueang were added to this ever-growing list.

To further strengthen and facilitate the Hub and Spoke operations for airlines, Hyderabad International Airport is increasing its capacity from the current 12 Million Passengers/Annum to 34 Million Passengers/Annum with an Integrated Domestic and International terminal under a single roof.

This Integrated Terminal at Hyderabad International Airport is a unique facility in the entire South and Central India, very unlike the other International Airports in the region which have multiple terminals. The integrated terminal will further add value to airlines in choosing Hyderabad International Airport as a preferred Hub.  

To ensure safe operations and seamless baggage and passenger movement, a new tunnel has been built to minimize the time loss during the crisscross movement of Ground Service Equipment (GSE) vehicles and Aircraft. The GSE tunnel connects the 24 new remote aircraft stands and 18 existing remote stands on the east side of the airport to contact stands and the expanding passenger terminal. The annual savings of the carbon emission with this newly built GSE tunnel would be approximately 7000 tonnes per annum.

HYD has seen one of the fastest recoveries in the international passengers segment in comparison to all Metro Airports in India during YTD FY23. In CY22 the top-performing regions were North America, Europe, Southeast Asia, the Middle East & Africa to name a few. During CY22 top performing sectors in North America were Chicago, Dallas, Washington, San Francisco, New York, Toronto and Dallas to name a few. As traffic between HYD and North America has grown at a faster rate than any other metro airport in India over the years, some global airlines had expressed an interest in connectivity to HYD. 

The city has the potential to connect to multiple destinations in the USA, Canada, Europe, Australia, Southeast Asia (Vietnam, Indonesia) and Africa (Ethiopia). Hyderabad Airport is exploring new destinations and hoping to increase further connectivity in the coming years. Currently, the focus is on connectivity to Chicago, New York, San Francisco, Dallas, Frankfurt and Paris to name a few.

Mr. Pradeep Panicker, CEO - GMR Hyderabad International Airport, said, “There has been an upsurge in air travel from the region. This is a healthy trend for the sector. Our endeavor is to ensure a safe, efficient, and sustainable air transport system for passengers. Strategic investments in technology and infrastructure as part of our expansion plans in a phase wise manner have enabled convenient travel. A few new destinations have been added and some old ones restored. We look forward to welcoming more travellers and increased connectivity once the entire expansion is completed.”