At around 20L passengers, Kolkata airport clocks highest Dec footfall
Kolkata: The Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose International (NSCBI) airport, Kolkata has clocked a footfall of around 20 lakh passengers in December 2024 while the airport seeks to handle 100 flights daily in both the domestic and international sector.
According to the airport officials, a major reason for such footfall was also the festive season. On December 31 (New Year’s eve), in the domestic sector, including both arrivals and departures, the airport handled a total of 55,250 passengers and 359 flights. In the international sector, including both arrival and departure, the airport handled a total of 5,719 passengers and 40 flights.
On December 25 (Christmas), in the domestic sector, including both arrivals and departures, the airport handled a total of 59,304 passengers and 361 flights. In the international sector, including both arrival and departure, the airport handled a total of 8,143 passengers and 47 flights.
Compared to December 2023 when it handled 18.5 lakh passengers, the airport handled around 20 lakh passengers in December 2024. This also reflects the passenger handling capacity of the airport which is expected to further increase, according to airport officials. It was learnt that besides deploying extra staff, Digi Yatra lanes were also kept open for manual entry for faster processing.
Recently, Civil Aviation Minister Kinjarapu Rammohan Naidu during his visit shared that Centre plans to make Kolkata airport a hub for international airport. He had shared that presently, there are flights heading to 15 international destinations from Kolkata airport and 49 domestic destinations. He said plans are afoot to further increase flights in both sectors in near future. He said the Centre aims to reach a goal where the airport will handle 100 flights daily in both sectors. The minister said there’s a plan to increase the annual passenger footfall at the airport from 2.6 million to 4 million and for which a new terminal will be introduced
by November 2025.
