LONDON – Based on data provided by RadarBox.com, Indira Gandhi International Airport in New Delhi is at risk of a flight movement downturn.
The airport has gone from experiencing double-digit growth compared to the same period last year to being on the way to a negative percentage difference.
Without further ado, let’s get into the numbers…
The Numbers…
For November 19-26, the airport handled 1,207 movements, which is an increase of 5.14% compared to the same period last year, where 1,148 movements were handled based on a seven-day rolling average.
The airport is around 93 movements shy of achieving pre-pandemic levels, which was 1,300 movements.
Below is the last four weeks’ worth of data from the airport:
| Date | 2019 Numbers | 2021 Numbers | 2022 Numbers | Percentage Difference (2022 vs. 2021) |
| October 21-29 | 1298 movements | 1037 movements | 1147 movements | +10.61% |
| October 29-November 5 | 1300 movements | 1083 movements | 1198 movements | +10.62% |
| November 5-12 | 1320 movements | 1136 movements | 1203 movements | +5.90% |
| November 12-19 | 1312 movements | 1126 movements | 1206 movements | +7.10% |
What we can see from the data is that as we entered November, the positive percentage difference began to dip, and it is unclear at this time whether it will.
Another point to mention is that movement numbers have increased in the last four weeks, but they also did in the same periods in 2021 as well.
It’s going to be a difficult one to establish and something we may have to come back to in a few weeks when we enter into December’s statistics.
An Uneasy Period in Delhi?
The airport has had a couple of months where it has conveyed a view of uneasiness. Back in September, there was a Lufthansa strike that sparked protests.
A short video posted to social media shows the crowd of protesters, estimated at 150 people, at the Indira Gandhi Airport Terminal 3 complex, calling for justice following the strike action by Lufthansa.
Protesters gathered at the terminal complex and demanded refunds of their flight fares, with one social media post stating, “We are students, senior citizens, and so many people stranded here in Indira Gandhi Airport, Terminal 3. We are stuck here. The staff has vanished.”
The airline stated that up to 130,000 passengers would be potentially affected by the strike action, which arose after pay talks with the Vereinigung Cockpit (VC) union failed to reach a satisfactory conclusion.
Then, last month, an Aeroflot flight operating from Moscow received a bomb threat onboard SU232.
According to Indian news source ANI, the Russian carrier Aeroflot received the bomb threat whilst scheduled flight SU 232 was en route from its departure point at Moscow (SVO) to Delhi Indira Gandhi Airport (DEL) in India.
The flight departed Moscow uneventfully and was scheduled to land at DEL at 3:20 am local time this morning. The aircraft operating the route was a Boeing 777-300 series aircraft, registered RA-73144.
ANI reported that at around 11:15 pm, advice was received of a bomb onboard the flight via an “electronic medium.”
According to FlightRadar24, the aircraft made a landing at Indira Gandhi Airport at 2:48 local time. Authorities were in attendance for the aircraft’s arrival, and the B777 was placed in an isolation bay whilst the aircraft, passengers, and luggage were checked.
All passengers and crew members were subsequently disembarked, and nothing suspicious was found.
Therefore, it remains clear that Delhi has had quite an uneasy period, and we could see this potentially deteriorate unless additional services are implemented over the Winter.
