Infographic: India's ten busiest airports: June 2013 vs. June 2012

by Vinay Bhaskara

June was a mostly positive month for traffic at India's ten busiest airports. As the table below shows, traffic grew at eight airports, while declining at just two. Total traffic at India's ten busiest airports grew around 2% year-over-year to roughly 10.7 million passengers, positive news after some declines in passenger traffic earlier this year. There were no changes in the top ten, either in constitution or in order, though Bangalore moved closer to surpassing Chennai as India's third busiest airport as traffic grew 2.4% against a drop of 1.2% at Chennai. Just outside the top ten, fast growing Srinagar surpassed Goa to become India's 11th busiest airport in June, and will likely surpass Trivandrum by the end of the year (Srinagar trailed Trivandrum by 11,000 passengers in June).

Airport	June 2013	June 2012	YOY Growth
Delhi (DEL)	3133135	3072780	2.0%
Mumbai (BOM)	2573600	2494202	3.2%
Chennai (MAA)	1077267	1090302	-1.2%
Bengaluru (BLR)	1022158	998302	2.4%
Kolkata (CCU)	854846	890240	-4.0%
Hyderabad (HYD)	711677	702940	1.2%
Kochi (COK)	428251	382566	11.9%
Ahmedabad (AMD)	356558	348273	2.4%
Pune(PNQ)	297421	276496	7.6%
Trivandrum (TRV)	243968	232024	5.1%
TOTAL	10698881	10488125	2.0%

The following chart shows traffic India's top ten airports in June 2013 vs. June 2012 (click for a larger view)

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IndiGo increases service between Mumbai, Goa, Chandigarh and Ahmedabad

With the arrival of its 68th Airbus A320, India's largest domestic airline, IndiGo, is increasing its services between Mumbai, Ahmedabad, Goa, and Chandigarh from today.

From the released time-table below the aircraft commences its work at 05:50 in the morning at Ahmedabad to Mumbai to Chandigarh to Mumbai to Goa to Mumbai to Chandigarh to Mumbai and finally back to Ahmedabad at 23:20 (11:20PM).

Flight No.	From	To	Departure	Arrival
6E 434	Mumbai	Chandigarh	07:25	09:45
6E 433	Chandigarh	Mumbai	19:35	21:35
6E 438	Mumbai	Chandigarh	14:45	19:05
6E 437	Chandigarh	Mumbai	10:15	12:30
6E 434	Ahmedabad	Mumbai	05:50	06:50
6E 433	Mumbai	Ahmedabad	22:20	23:20
6E 437	Mumbai	Goa	13:35	14:45
6E 438	Goa	Mumbai	15:15	16:15

With these new services IndiGo expands to 373 flights connecting 33 destinations across the nation.

IndiGo's fleet now stands at 59 aircraft. The airline has returned or diverted nine aircraft to lessors.

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Swiss connects Zurich with Goa by adding code share on Edelweiss service

Lufthansa owned, Swiss International Air Lines has connected one of India’s best known leisure destinations, Goa, directly with its Zurich hub by adding its “LX” code to the regular charter flights operated by its subsidiary Edelweiss Air.

The Edelweiss service has traditionally been geared towards incoming tourist groups. The code-share agreement facilitates booking access to these flights for individual customers.

From Zurich, Goa passengers can connect on to the global network of Swiss.

Members of the airline’s frequent flyer program Miles & More will accrue miles on this route and the ground services will be on par with other Swiss stations.

The once a week service is operated under flight number LX8958 with an Airbus A-330 aircraft in a 2-class configuration of 32 business and 275 economy seats. The flight schedule is:

Departing Zurich Sundays 17:35 arriving Goa Monday 07:00
Departing Goa Mondays 08:00 Arrival Zurich (via Male) 17:25

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SpiceJet introduces more flights into Goa

By improving its operational efficiencies, New Delhi based value carrier SpiceJet has introduced four new flights from Mumbai and Bangalore into Dabolim airport serving the state of Goa, one of the most popular tourist destinations in India.

SpiceJet has taken its daily departures up from 125 to 129 to capitalise on the upcoming festival and new year season when tourist traffic is highest to the beach resorts of Goa.

The new Mumbai Goa flight, the second between the two airports will commence from September 11, while the new Bangalore Goa flights will start from October 25.

The Mumbai Goa flight will depart at 16:25 arriving Goa at 17:30, returning 18:00 to arrive Mumbai at 19:10.

The Goa Bangalore flight will depart at 13:35 arriving Bangalore at 14:45 returning at 15:15 to arrive Goa at 16:25.

All the flights will be operated with Boeing 737-800 all economy class aircraft.

For more details visit the SpiceJet website.

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Qatar Airways advances launch of services to Amritsar and Goa

To capitalise on the peak traffic, Qatar Airways is advancing it's commencement of scheduled flights to Amritsar on October 11 ahead of Diwali (Deepavali).

Similarly, it will commence scheduled flights to the beach destination of Goa on October 25, to capitalise on the inbound winter holiday traffic. Goa is a popular retreat, particularly among European holidaymakers

Both routes will be operated four-times-per-week non-stop from the airline’s hub in Doha, in the Emirate of Qatar using a two-class Airbus A320 configured with 12 seats in Business and 132 seats in Economy.

Doha – Amritsar schedules effective 11 October 2009
QR298 departs Doha at 21:40 arrives Amritsar at 03:55 the next morning
Mondays, Tuesdays, Fridays, Sundays
QR299 departs Amritsar at 04:55 arrives Doha at 06:15
Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Saturdays

Doha – Goa schedules effective 25 October 2009
QR224 departs Doha at 21:25 arrives Goa Dabolim at 03:30 the next morning
Wednesdays, Thursdays, Saturdays, Sundays
QR225 depart Goa Dabolim at 04:30 arrive Doha at 06:10
Mondays, Thursdays, Fridays, Sundays

Qatar Airways has done some very smart scheduling and will offer quick connections to its passengers to and from Europe, North America, Africa and the Middle East.

Qatar Airways currently operates daily flights between Doha and eight destinations India – Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Hyderabad, Ahmedabad, Trivandrum, Cochin and Kozhikode. The addition of Amritsar and Goa will take the flights tally up to 64 flights a week.

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Air Arabia commences Sharjah Goa service

Low cost carrier Air Arabia has launched its Sharjah, UAE to Dabolim, Goa, India, three times a week service. Goa is the 13th destination in India after Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Chennai, Coimbatore, Delhi, Jaipur, Kochi, Kozhikode, Mumbai, Nagpur, Thiruvanathapuram and Hyderabad.

The schedule is :
Depart Sharjah Tue, Thu, Sat at 00:25 arrive Goa at 05:05
Depart Goa Tue, Thu, Sat at 05:50 arrive Sharjah at 7:35 AM.

Air Arabia is offering fares starting at Rs 3,653/ from Goa to Sharjah, excluding taxes and other surcharges. For full details visit the airline's website.

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Indian Navy Kamov Ka-28 Helix helicopter crashes at sea off Goa coast, crew rescued

An Indian Navy Kamov Ka-28 "Helix-A" helicopter crashed in the Arabian Sea, 22 nautical miles off the coast Goa, earlier day, but the three crew escaped unhurt.

The Ka-28 is the export version of the Ka-27Pl

Image courtesy Wikipedia

The helicopter had taken off from the Indian Navy base at Goa INS Hansa at 11:00 (05:30 UTC) on a routine sortie. Air Traffic Control officials at the Dabolim International Airport, Goa, indicated that the helicopter lost contact with them 20 minutes later.

A few minutes later, when a distress signal was received a Navy rescue helicopter was scrambled, which rescued the crew members.

The debris of the Kamov has been located and a court of inquiry has been initiated as per an Indian Navy spokesperson.

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Qatar Airways to commence services to Goa Amritsar Sydney Melbourne in aggressive expansion

Qatar Airways unveiled an aggressive expansion plan today, with plans to expand operations to India and Europe, and launch new flights into Australia from the start of the Northern Winter 2009 schedules.

Over the next nine months Qatar Airways will commence flights from Doha to Goa and Amritsar, taking their count to 11 destinations in India, Sydney and Melbourne in Australia, and two European cities which have not yet been announced.



Qatar Airways has a fleet of 68 aircraft out of which there are eight Boeing 777's; six Boeing 777-300ERs (extended range) and two February delivered Boeing 777-200LRs (long range). Qatar Airways is deploying the latter aircraft on its Doha-Houston service due to commence on March 30th. At close to 17 hours, it will be one of the longest non-stop flights in the world.

Qatar Airways Business Class seats

The Australian services will require the same Boeing 777-200LRs which will be joining the fleet during this year.

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Paramount adds Pune as third destination in Western India

Paramount Airways extended its services to Western India, by launching daily flights from Chennai to Pune. Paramount already serves Ahmedabad and Goa from Chennai.

Commenting on the Pune launch Mr Thiagarajan, MD, Paramount Airways said, “As part of our expansion strategy we have launched the Chennai - Pune sector today. This we believe will help our foray into the western region and we hope to replicate the success that we have acheived in the Southern market. Being a premium airline, we are certain that Paramount would receive a huge franchise from these key market. This flight would be a convenient and comfortable option for Chennai flyers to Pune.”

The airline has also launched its frequent flyer programe “Paramount Royale”.

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