The two largest airports in India — Delhi and Mumbai — have become the biggest low-cost megahubs in the world, according to a new report by British aviation analytics firm OAG. The last such megahubs report was published by the firm in 2019, when Delhi and Mumbai ranked sixth and 11th in the low-cost megahubs list, respectively. This represents increased connectivity of these airports as the world emerges from the Covid-19 pandemic.
- Advertisement -
Globally, among all types of megahubs, Delhi ranked 13th in 2022, compared with 35th in 2019. Mumbai, on the other hand, rose to 24th in 2022 from 51st in 2019. In the latest rankings, Chicago’s O’Hare Airport ranked as the world’s biggest megahub, followed by Dallas Fort Worth International.
To arrive at these rankings, OAG analysed flight data for the top 100 airports as per total capacity and top 100 largest airports as per international capacity, based on total scheduled seat allocation from September 2021 to August 2022. It then calculated the total number of all possible flight connections between inbound and outbound flights within a six-hour window (where either the inbound, outbound or both flights are international) on August 12, 2022 — the busiest day for global aviation between September 2021 and August 2022. The top 25 low-cost carrier (LCC) megahubs use the same methodology but limited to low-cost flights only.
In the list of low-cost megahubs, Delhi Airport replaced Malaysia’s Kuala Lumpur Airport, which is dominated by budget carrier AirAsia. Both Delhi and Mumbai airports have low-cost airline IndiGo as the dominant carrier, with 34 per cent and 37 per cent share of scheduled flights at these airports, respectively. The list of OAG’s top 25 megahubs also includes Bengaluru and Hyderabad, ranked 14th and 15th, respectively. “The dominant presence of IndiGo at Indian airports has propelled Delhi-Indira Gandhi International Airport (DEL) and Mumbai-Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport (BOM) to 1st and 2nd place,” OAG noted in its report. Delhi also became the top megahub in the Asia Pacific region.
- Advertisement -
“Hong Kong did not make it into the Top 50 and so does not feature among the top 10 megahubs in Asia Pacific — by contrast, in 2019 Hong Kong was in second place in the top 10 Asia Pacific megahubs,” it pointed out.
“The global market has yet to fully recover post-pandemic. While the US currently dominates due to its strong domestic market, we could see Europe and other global hubs catch up in the next 12 months as the industry works towards a full recovery,” said John Grant, chief analyst at OAG.
Earlier this year, the Indian government announced resumption of scheduled international flights after a two-year suspension on account of Covid19. Overseas air connectivity during this period of suspension was made possible under air bubble agreements.
- Advertisement -
Earlier this year, the government had announced resumption of scheduled international flights after a two-year suspension on account of Covid-19. Overseas air connectivity during this period of suspension was made possible under air bubble agreements, under which airlines could mount only a limited number of flights. However, with the resumption of scheduled flights, carriers were able to operate capacity in accordance with the original air service agreements negotiated between India and their home country. This led to airlines both domestic and foreign adding capacity on international routes.
