Economic slump drags BIA down

Bangalore: For more proof that the storm buffeting Indian aviation will claim victims other than carriers, look no further than the Bengaluru International Airport (BIA). The phenomenal growth of passenger air traffic out of Bangalore has suddenly hit the brakes.
For the first time since the aviation boom began five years ago, Bangalore’s passenger air traffic is expected to nosedive by 10%, for the year ending 2008-09. Going by previous years, analysts had predicted that traffic would touch 11.5 million passengers this fiscal. Now, due to emergence of international and domestic economic air pockets, Bangalore International Airport Limited, BIA’s promoter, is projecting passenger traffic of 9.2 million. The figure for 2007-08 stood at 10.12 million, an increase of 24.4% over 2006-07.
In the past three years, the city’s average growth in passenger air traffic was 35.2%, the highest in India and more than double of India’s passenger growth figures.
Albert Brunner, CEO, BIAL, said, “Since June, there has been a dramatic fall in monthly traffic at all Indian airports. Current projection for 2008-09 is 9.2 million passengers.”
Latest data on passenger traffic for July, available with the Airports Authority of India, shows the country’s busiest airports — Mumbai, New Delhi, Bangalore, Chennai and Hyderabad — reported a 15.5% drop in traffic over the same period in 2007.
22/10/08 Anshul Dhamija/Times of India

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Categories: Airports Oct 2008