Dubai: More than 40 million passengers will have flown through the New Delhi Indira Gandhi International (IGI) Airport by the end of the current financial year ending March 31, 2015, an airport executive said in Dubai on Thursday.
Pradeep Panicker, chief commercial officer (Aero) at Delhi International Airport Private Limited, told reporters at the Future of Borders summit in Dubai on Thursday that passenger numbers have already surpassed 40 million. There are two-and-a-half weeks left in the fiscal year. The airport handled 36.88 million last year, according to an airport spokesperson.
Delhi International, which can handle up to 60 million passengers a year, has seen a “significant” increase in arrivals following a government decision last year to increase visa on arrival to visitors from certain countries, Panicker said.
To date, visitors from 43 countries can obtain a visa on arrival in India. That has been projected to increase to 150 in the future.
That will be the “biggest challenge”, Panicker said.
The airport is currently assessing how to increase the number of visa-on-arrival desks, which are different from the usual passport control, Panicker said.
Delhi airport is also looking at increasing its non-aeronautical revenue, which is income that does not come directly from aircraft and passenger fees. Panicker said there are plans to increase the retail space and product offerings, which he said, contribute the most to non-aeronautical income.
