Delhi, Bengaluru among 10 best-performing airports globally in 2022: Cirium

Other top performers were Hyderabad's Rajiv Gandhi International Airport, Chennai's Chennai Airport and Kolkata's Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose Airport

Despite a challenging operational environment, 2022 saw a 26 per cent jump from 2021 in the number of flights operated globally and Bengaluru's Kempegowda International Airport and Delhi's Indira Gandhi International Airport were among the top 10 on-time airports globally, according to aviation analytics firm Cirium.

These two airports were not in the top 10 in 2021.

In its "On-time Performance Review 2022", Cirium said that Bengaluru's airport was the second best airport globally in 2022 in terms of on-time arrivals and departures. Japan's Haneda Airport was the best-performing airport.

Indira Gandhi Airport stood seventh in the on-time rankings globally. Mumbai's Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport stood at the 11th spot.

"The second spot goes to Kempegowda International Airport – an impressive feat as it was not in the Top 20 in 2021 and Indira Gandhi International Airport in India took the 7th position. These two airports made significant leaps from 2021 as newcomers to the Top 10 most on-time global airport rankings," said Luis Felipe de Oliveira, director general (DG) at Airports Council International-ACI World.

Among the separate global rankings for 'Large Airports', Hyderabad's Rajiv Gandhi International Airport, Bengaluru's Kempegowda International Airport, Chennai's Chennai Airport and Kolkata's Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose Airport stood at 11th, 15th, 16th and 18th respectively.

In the list of 'Medium Airports', Jaipur Airport and Cochin Airport stood at 9th and 18th spots, respectively. No Indian airport featured in the top 20 in the 'Small Airports' category.

Moreover, in the Asia Pacific region, India's Indigo and AirAsia India airlines were among the top 10 best on-time performers at 5th and 6th spots, respectively.

US' Delta Air Lines was the best-performing airline globally.

Cirium said that despite good recovery, the airline sector in 2023 will continue to see some level of stress due to staffing issues.

"While it is good to see healthy competition amongst the leading global carriers, we cannot ignore that globally on-time performance numbers were down approximately 2 percentage points overall throughout 2022," the report said.

"Staffing shortages will continue to challenge the global air travel industry and could have long-term impacts affecting on-time performance and reliability throughout 2023 and beyond," it added.