RGIA crosses the 10 million passenger mark

Hyderabad, March 19 (INN): The Rajiv Gandhi International Airport (RGIA), Hyderabad on Thursday achieved a significant milestone by clocking 10 million passengers in one year. This achievement coincides with RGIA's seventh anniversary which falls on 23rd March.

Bhanu Khannan arrived from a Chennai bound flight emerged as the 10th million passenger at RGIA today evening. Incidentally, another passenger Chandra Shekaran who arrived in the same flightwas also travelled in the inaugural flight which took off from RGIA on 23rd March.

During 2014-15, RGIA has witnessed remarkable traffic growth of 20% over last year led by 22% growth in domestic passenger traffic and 15% growth in International traffic. The traffic growth numbers are higher than the average growth witnessed by other major Indian airports.

Despite the rapid growth, RGIA has ensured adequate focus towards service excellence, enabling RGIA to be consistently rated amongst the top 3 airports in the world in the 5-15 million passenger category as per the Airport Service Quality (ASQ) survey, conducted by Airports Council International (ACI).

At present, RGIA boasts of a healthy mix of business and tourist traffic given the excellent air connectivity that the airport management has helped develop by working closely with Indian and international carriers. As on date, the airport is served by 15 international and 5 domestic airlines that connect Hyderabad to over 16 international and 25 domestic destinations.

Expressing his happiness on achieving this milestone, Srinivas Bommidala, Chairman-Airports, GMR Group said:'Crossing the 10 million passenger mark in a year is an important landmark for Hyderabad Airport, and today it has established itself as the gateway airport to South and Central India. This has been possible through the confidence instilled across the aviation industry over the last year by the dynamic and progressive attitude of the Government of India. The proactive stance adopted by the new state government in building Brand Hyderabad and projecting it as an investor friendly destination has also contributed significantly to the growth in traffic this year'.

Kishore, CEO - GMR Hyderabad International Airport Ltd added 'Reaching the 10 million milestone reassures us that our approach and strategy of providing quality service to our passengers, creating good infrastructure and securing new connectivity is working and that we are headed along the right path. I am confident that the growth trend will continue in coming years too. Our focus is now firmly on adding new routes/frequencies, bringing new carriers besides creating more amenities, options, improving security and service quality to our passengers as well as to all our stakeholders', Kishore said.

In addition to the passenger traffic, on the cargo front, the freight volumes at RGIA's cargo facility will also achieve a key milestone by crossing 100,000 metric tonnes during this financial year. The cargo facility at RGIA was built with a capacity for 150,000 MT per annum with world-class dedicated facilities and a consistently enhanced connectivity. While Air Freight volumes in India have grown at a CAGR of 7%, RGIA recorded a 15% growth in the financial year 2014-15. RGIA has been successful in bringing new dedicated freighters this year viz. Turkish cargo and Qatar cargo thus providing better options and increased global connectivity to the cargo community.

Kishore further said 'This accomplishment is a testimony to RGIA's unflinching endeavor to consistently strive towards service excellence, and I would like to take this opportunity to thank all the stakeholders, partners, concessionaires and employees who have delivered a memorable and delightful experience to the passengers during these 7 years of journey'.