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GUWAHATI: The new integrated terminal building of the Guwahati airport will be commissioned this year, even as the officials of the airport on Wednesday said with the existing infrastructure, the airport handled 5.6 million (55.92 lakh) passengers last year, which is nearing the full capacity.
Among them, there were about 2.9 million arriving passengers and about 2.7 million were departing passengers, airport officials said.
Airport officials said given this 17 per cent increase in passenger footfall, the need to open the new terminal building to facilitate hassle-free movement of passengers. In 2022, the passenger footfall was about 4.6 million.
Guwahati, the most happening and the largest airport in the northeast, is almost running out of capacity as its current capacity is to handle 6 million passengers per year. The passenger capacity will go up to 13 million, once the new terminal building is inaugurated.
“This year, we are commissioning the new integrated terminal building. It has enough capacity to cater to the current demand. It has state-of-the-art technology. Altogether, it will open a new vista to the air transportation in this region,” a spokesperson of the airport told TOI on Wednesday.
In 2023, the Guwahati airport exceeded the previous year’s passengers’ number by 10 lakhs. “It’s a 17 per cent growth. One of the highest in the country,” said the chief airport officer of Guwahati airport, Utpal Baruah.
“We are happy because we could handle this volume in a terminal that has less than half passenger handling capacity. We are eagerly waiting to commission the new terminal this year that will double the capacity of our current demand,” he added.
While Guwahati got flight connectivity to Jaipur, Bhubaneshwar and Bangkok last year, Baruah said a few more domestic and international destinations may get flight connectivity with the city in 2024.
During last year, the highest single-day passenger footfall was 19,290, recorded on December 24.
Meanwhile, in 2023, the Guwahati airport handled about 46,600 aircraft – about 23,300 arrived and about 23,300 departed. In 2022, the corresponding figure was around 41,000.
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