In FY24, the Chennai airport handled a total (domestic and international) of 2.12 crore passengers while Kolkata handled 1.97 crore
| Photo Credit:
SRINATH M
The Chennai International Airport is now under pressure to hold on to its position as the fifth largest airport in the country. The rapid increase in the passenger handling by Kolkata’s Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose International Airport has reduced Chennai’s lead by nearly half in FY25. Interestingly, both airports are operated by the Airports Authority of India.
In FY24, the Chennai airport handled a total (domestic and international) of 2.12 crore passengers while Kolkata handled 1.97 crore —a difference of around 14 lakhs. In FY25, Chennai’s passenger count was 2.24 crore and Kolkata’s was 2.18 crore, with the former’s lead reducing to almost 6 lakh.
“With the current handling, Kolkata is likely to overtake Chennai to become the fifth largest airport in this fiscal,” an industry source said.
An official of a large travel company said there are two main contributors for Kolkata airport’s growth —MICE (Meetings, incentives, conferences, and exhibitions) travel and growth in overseas leisure. With regard to Chennai, catchment area is shrinking and generally smaller than Kolkata, the official said.
A retired airport official said while Chennai has competition from Bangalore and Hyderabad, Kolkata is the only major airport in the Eastern region.
The Chennai airport had the slowest growth when compared against Bengaluru and Hyderabad in the south, in terms of total passengers handled during the fiscal year ended March 31, 2025. The joint venture(JV) Hyderabad airport saw the highest growth with 16.5 per cent followed by Bengaluru (JV airport) with 11.6 per cent. Chennai (government-owned) was at third position with a growth of 5.7 per cent, according to Airports Authority of India data.
In the international traffic among the three airports, only Chennai saw a degrowth.
Krishnan, a frequent traveller, said once the second phase of the expansion and modernisation of Chennai airport is completed by March 2026, there could be improvement in the traffic.
Economic growth of the north east region has been a major factor in Kolkata airport’s growth with a number of air passengers travelling from that region. Connectivity to north eastern airports is better from Kolkata compared to other major airports in India. The integrated terminal at Kolkata is much better than the domestic terminals at Chennai, he added.
The AAI is undertaking the expansion and modernisation of Chennai Airport in two phases at a total cost of ₹2,467 crore.
Published on May 8, 2025
In FY24, the Chennai airport handled a total (domestic and international) of 2.12 crore passengers while Kolkata handled 1.97 crore
| Photo Credit:
SRINATH M
The Chennai International Airport is now under pressure to hold on to its position as the fifth largest airport in the country. The rapid increase in the passenger handling by Kolkata’s Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose International Airport has reduced Chennai’s lead by nearly half in FY25. Interestingly, both airports are operated by the Airports Authority of India.
In FY24, the Chennai airport handled a total (domestic and international) of 2.12 crore passengers while Kolkata handled 1.97 crore —a difference of around 14 lakhs. In FY25, Chennai’s passenger count was 2.24 crore and Kolkata’s was 2.18 crore, with the former’s lead reducing to almost 6 lakh.
“With the current handling, Kolkata is likely to overtake Chennai to become the fifth largest airport in this fiscal,” an industry source said.
An official of a large travel company said there are two main contributors for Kolkata airport’s growth —MICE (Meetings, incentives, conferences, and exhibitions) travel and growth in overseas leisure. With regard to Chennai, catchment area is shrinking and generally smaller than Kolkata, the official said.
A retired airport official said while Chennai has competition from Bangalore and Hyderabad, Kolkata is the only major airport in the Eastern region.
The Chennai airport had the slowest growth when compared against Bengaluru and Hyderabad in the south, in terms of total passengers handled during the fiscal year ended March 31, 2025. The joint venture(JV) Hyderabad airport saw the highest growth with 16.5 per cent followed by Bengaluru (JV airport) with 11.6 per cent. Chennai (government-owned) was at third position with a growth of 5.7 per cent, according to Airports Authority of India data.
In the international traffic among the three airports, only Chennai saw a degrowth.
Krishnan, a frequent traveller, said once the second phase of the expansion and modernisation of Chennai airport is completed by March 2026, there could be improvement in the traffic.
Economic growth of the north east region has been a major factor in Kolkata airport’s growth with a number of air passengers travelling from that region. Connectivity to north eastern airports is better from Kolkata compared to other major airports in India. The integrated terminal at Kolkata is much better than the domestic terminals at Chennai, he added.
The AAI is undertaking the expansion and modernisation of Chennai Airport in two phases at a total cost of ₹2,467 crore.
Published on May 8, 2025
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It is a long established fact that a reader will be distracted by the readable content of a page when looking at its layout. The point of using Lorem Ipsum is that it has a more-or-less normal distribution
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