Passengers traffic at Bangalore airport surges 23.8% to 33.3 million in FY19

Besides, another 4.48 million international passengers also used the airport, logging a growth of 17.5 percent during the fiscal, it said.

The addition of new airlines and new routes to familiar destinations were the main driving factors for the growth, the release said.

Maintaining the quality experience for passengers poses a challenge, given the growth in passenger volumes the airport is currently witnessing, said Hari Marar, managing director and chief executive at BIAL.

In order to support the growth, we have introduced several technology initiatives. The biometric-based self-boarding solutions, which is part of the government's Digi Yatra initiative is expected to be rolled out soon, Marar

added.

On January 20 this year, the single-day passenger record stood at 109,174 while the highest number of per day movement was recorded on January 11 at 750 arrivals and departures, the company said adding over 2.40 lakh aircraft

movement were recorded during the period.

BIAL is currently undertaking expansion work. The Rs 13,000-crore second phase expansion entails construction of a new terminal, a second runway, access roads, and a multi-modal transport hub.

These works are scheduled to be completed by March 2021.

Meanwhile, work on the second runway and terminal, as well as other supporting infrastructure, is on at full throttle. All this will provide the airport sufficient capacity to meet the demand over the next decade that this unprecedented growth has created," Marar said.

Air Traffic Movements (ATMs) increased by 21.8 percent with a total of 240,251 landing and take-offs compared to 197,330 movements last year.

The average arrivals and departures per day for the year were 658, the release added.