Driven by a strong passenger traffic growth, India is poised to become one of the largest aviation markets in the world, according to a global body of airports.
The Airports Council International (ACI) said that major commercial airports in China, India and Korea remained the major driving forces for the robust air passenger growth in the Asia-Pacific region.
"India is also poised to be one of the largest aviation markets in the world in the years to come.
"The combination of a move towards a more liberalised market for aviation, coupled with stronger economic fundamentals, helped the country become one of the fastest- growing markets in the world," ACI said in a release.
In June, passenger traffic grew 9.9 per cent in the Asia-Pacific region, higher than 8.8 per cent year-to-date growth rate.
As per ACI, international and domestic passenger traffic were strong during the first half of 2016 at 10.1 per cent and 8.2 per cent, respectively.
"Major commercial airports in China, India and Korea remained the major driving forces for the robust air passenger growth in the region (+12.1 per cent, +17 per cent and +14.1 per cent, respectively)," the release said.
"A 20.6 per cent increase in domestic passenger traffic in India is worth a special note," it added.
ACI also said Delhi airport saw a significant growth of 21.5 per cent in June or "+4.75 million passengers year-to- date". Seoul's Incheon airport saw a growth of +13.7 per cent or +3.34 million passengers year-to-date, among others.
"India posted a robust 9.6 per cent increase in total freight for the first six months of 2016, consisting of 4.1 per cent growth in domestic freight and 10.5 per cent growth in international freight," ACI noted.
Total air freight traffic in Asia-Pacific picked up at 5.9 per cent in June.
"At the individual airport level, the highest growth in air freight was observed at Guangzhou (+6 per cent or +43,950 tonnes year-to-date), Singapore (+4.4 per cent or +40,600) and Delhi (+10.6 per cent or +39,620)," the release said.
Founded in 1991, ACI is the trade association of the world's airports. ACI served 592 members operating 1,853 airports in 173 countries as on January this year.
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