In a major boost to the Indian aviation industry, the GMR-run Rajiv Gandhi International Airport in Hyderabad has been adjudged the airport with best On Time Performance globally. An Indian airport, beating Japanese airports in punctuality is a big news for the India's infrastructure push. Moreso, Bengaluru's Kempegowda International Airport is also among the top ranked airports globally, as per Aviation analytics firm Cirium, in terms of On Time Performance in March 2023. Cirium reviewed a total number of 3 million flights for every airport globally, and categorizes those airports into four types.


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The four types are based mainly on seat numbers and are listed as: 1) Global Airport (25-40 million seats and serve at least three regions), 2) Large Airport (25-40 million seats), 3) Medium Airport (15-25 million seats) and 4) Small Airport (5-15 million seats). This is not the first time Indian airports have ranked high on the punctuality as per Cirium.


Previously, in November 2022, both Bengaluru's Kempegowda International Airport and Hyderabad's Rajiv Gandhi International Airport were among the top performers globally in terms of punctuality, beating other bigger airports in India, including Delhi's Indira Gandhi International Airport and Mumbai's Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport.


Global Category


As per the Cirium report, Hyderabad's Rajiv Gandhi International Airport (HYD) was the only global airport to break the 90 percent on-time departure (OTD) barrier, with a 90.43 percent OTP. The airport serves 29 airlines and 77 routes and had 14,658 scheduled single-segment flights in March.The Kempegowda International (BLR) in Bengaluru came second at 86.14%, followed by Bogota's El Dorado International (BOG) in Colombia.


The Copenhagen Airport (CPH) rounded out the top 20 with an OTP of 77.74%. In November 2022, Bengaluru's Kempegowda International Airport was ranked among the top 20 most punctual airlines globally in the Global Airport category.


Large Category


In the Large Airports category, which can also include airports listed on the Global Airports rankings, Hyderabad and Bengaluru topped the list. Rajiv Gandhi International Airport (HYD) in Hyderabad has been performing exceptionally well in this category with close to 90 percent OTP. Usually, the top three airports in this category are all located in Japan.


No airports in Medium and Small categories from India could make it to the top 20 list of each category. 


India is one of the fastest growing aviation markets in the world, with passenger traffic reaching an all time high in 2022. Also, India has constructed more airports in the last decade than most of the countries globally, including both domestic and international facilities.