Delhi airport now the second busiest airport in the world: OAG 

Delhi airport has been ranked as the second busiest airport globally in March 2022 in terms of seat capacity and frequency of domestic and international flights, stated travel data provider  Official Airline Guide (OAG). This recovery of passenger and flight traffic comes after the aviation sector took a massive dip in the two years of the COVID-19 pandemic. Aviation sectors have slowly started showing signs of recovery in 2022.    

Delhi airport is second to only Atlanta Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport to service 3,611,181 seats. Atlanta Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport serviced 4,422,436 seats. Dubai International Airport was third in line with 3,554,527 seats, followed by London Heathrow Airport with 3,510,941 seats, Dallas Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport with 3,460,566 seats, Chicago O'Hare International Airport with 3,293,417 seats, Los Angeles International Airport with 3,226,369 seats, Denver International Airport with 3,179,730 seats, Tokyo International (Haneda) with 3,114,035 seats, and Guangzhou with 3,082,153 seats. 

Delhi airport has also made the biggest leap from 23rd position in April 2019 to the second spot in March 2022. Denver airport made a jump from 21st spot to 8th spot, while Dallas airport leapt from 16th spot to 5th, and Guangzhou from 12th to 10th.  

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

DIAL CEO Videh Kumar Jaipuriar said, “COVID pandemic had hit the world hard. Travel restrictions had badly affected the travel and tourism sectors for two consecutive years. 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. India last month opened its borders and allowed the entry of fully vaccinated international travelers into the country. These steps have largely helped the travel and tourism industry and given a much-needed boost to air travel.” 

During the pandemic, Delhi airport took measures such as contactless boarding facility, sanitised environment inside and outside the terminals.  

In CY20 and CY21, Delhi airport emerged as the top-most among all Indian airports in terms of handling domestic as well as international passenger traffic. In CY 2021, Delhi airport handled 31.65 million domestic passengers and 5.49 million international traffic. 

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