Increased flow of international traffic has helped the Rajiv Gandhi International Airport at Hyderabad sustain its overall growth in the first half of the current fiscal, compared to the year-ago period, despite general slowdown.

The Hyderabad airport recorded a total passenger footfall of 4.38 million, including 3.20 million of domestic passengers.

In percentage terms the growth was seven per cent overall, while it was a high of 19 per cent in the international sector.

An increase in the number of international flights from the airport in the last few months also helped it attract more passengers, the company said in a recent investor presentation.

For the whole of 2012-13, the airport saw 8.38 million passengers.

A similar trend was recorded by the Delhi airport, which is also operated by the diversified GMR Group.

While the overall passenger growth was nine per cent during the six months, the growth in international passengers was 20 per cent compared to the year-ago period.

Cargo grows On the cargo front, the airport handled 43,840 tonnes of cargo during the first half of the year, a marginal increase.

During the entire fiscal 2012-13, it handled 83,990 tonnes.

Significantly, non-aero revenues of the airport have shown a growth of four per cent in the second quarter compared to the year-ago quarter, chiefly due to higher revenues from ground handling, advertisements and rentals from new concessionaries.

The non-aero revenues touched Rs 71 crore, while the aero revenue was Rs 105 crore during the quarter, against Rs 60.40 crore and Rs 81.80 crore respectively in the corresponding quarter of last fiscal.

amitmitra@thehindu.co.in

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