Presently, India’s top airports are bustling hubs of activity, with numerous flights of arrivals and departures. From New Delhi to Mumbai, airports do face a certain set of hours as the busiest. Contrary to popular belief, the hours between 0600 and 0700 in the morning are not the busiest in Indian airports. So, which are the busiest hours?
Busiest Hours In Airports
According to an article published by Hindustan Times with data credited to Cirium, an aviation analytics company, in the first week of February, 21,081 departures are scheduled by Indian carriers. The busiest hours are not in the morning, as is commonly believed. In India, there are 1,274 departures per week, with the maximum departures occurring between 1500 and 1600 hours. The least amount? There are only 70 weekly departures between 0300 and 0400 hours.
Here are the time frames with the highest number of flights weekly:
- 1500-1600 hours: 1,274 departures
- 0800 – 0900 hours: 1265 departures
- 1200 – 1300 hours: 1264 departures
- 1800 – 1900 hours: 1151 departures
- 0600 – 0700 hours: 1104 departures
- 0700 – 0800 hours: 1065 departures
- 2000 – 2100 hours: 1062 departures
- 1900 – 2000 hours: 1016 departures
This demand manifests most prominently during the busiest hours at these airports. The busiest hours at India’s top airports highlight the country’s growing role in global connectivity.
Which Are India’s Airports With The Busiest Hours?
Air travel has become more accessible with certain top airports having the busiest hours. Additionally, the same article by Hindustan Times highlights the same:
- Indira Gandhi International Airport: With 194 weekly departures, 0800-0900 is the busiest hour in Delhi, which has 3,273 weekly domestic departures.
- Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport: The busiest hours at Mumbai Airport are from 0600 to 0700 hours.
- Kempegowda International Airport: Bengaluru has 170 weekly domestic departures between 0600 and 0700 hours.
- Chennai International Airport: Chennai’s peak hours are tied at 0600-0700 and 1100-1200 hours with 70 domestic departures per week each.
- Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose International Airport: Kolkata, on the other hand, experiences 80 weekly domestic departures at its peak between 0800 and 0900 hours.
The nature of the airport, the quantity of aircraft parked there overnight, and the ability to remove them in the morning all contribute to peak hours. The inability of the runway at a large airport like Delhi to handle as many departures at one time results in a more dispersed departure schedule. On the other hand, 64% of all departures are made from the top 10 airports in terms of numbers. The metro airports are the only ones with weekly domestic departure counts over 1000.
So, at what time do you prefer to travel the most?
Cover image credits: Canva