As India makes a mark globally, and more people travel to India, Indian airports are also rising up to the challenge of giving international travellers a world-class experience. This is evident from the fact that four Indian airports have made it to the Best 100 Airports in the world list in the World Airport Awards 2022 list by Skytrax. The four airports are Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International (IGI) airport, Bengaluru’s Kempegowda International Airport, Hyderabad’s GMR International airport and Mumbai’s Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport.
While the Delhi airport is ranked at the 37, Bengaluru airport is at 61, Hyderabad airport at 63 and Mumbai Airport bagged the 65th spot. The ranked airports were awarded in a glittering ceremony held at the Passenger Terminal EXPO in Paris, France, on June 16, and some 500 airports across the world participated in the event. As per a statement by the organizers, “The event is one of the most prestigious quality awards for the airport sector, with CEOs, Presidents, and senior management from airports across the world in attendance.”
This is the fourth consecutive year that the IGI airport has been adjudged the best in India and South Asia. In fact, IGI has jumped up to the 37th rank this year from its 45th ranking last year. Also, IGI is the only airport from India to be included in the World’s Top 50 Airports. The Skytrax report also declared Delhi Airport as ‘the cleanest airport’ in India and South Asia.
The Bengaluru airport has also crawled up 10 spots from its 71st ranking last year to the 61st spot this year. Many travellers voted it the finest regional airport in India and South Asia for its superb customer service.
Delhi’s IGI airport is now running entirely on renewable energy, according to the airport authorities. It has switched to hydro and solar power energy from June 1, making it one of India’s first airports to be running entirely on renewable energy.
Their aim is to make Delhi Airport a net-zero carbon emission airport by 2030. Since June 1, almost 6 per cent of the airport’s electricity requirement is being met by the on-site solar power plants, while the remaining 94 per cent of energy is coming from a hydropower plant.
The Delhi airport has a 7.84 MW solar power plant on the airside, and another 5.3 MW rooftop solar power plant at the cargo terminal. For hydropower, the airport authorities have signed a power purchase agreement with a Himachal Pradesh-based hydropower producing company till 2036.
The IGI airport will be able to reduce energy emissions by 2 lakh tonnes of carbon dioxide per year with this transition. In 2015, the Cochin International Airport in Kerala became the first airport in the world to run solely using solar energy.
Mumbai’s Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport, however, maintained its 65th rank.
On a global ranking, the Hamad International Airport (Doha, Qatar) was named the World’s Best Airport for the second consecutive year. Other winners include Singapore’s Changi Airport (World’s Best Airport Staff Service and the World’s Best Airport Dining), and the other big winner from Asia was Tokyo’s Haneda Airport which won awards for the World’s Cleanest Airport, World’s Best Domestic Airport, Best Airport in Asia and the Best Airport PRM & Accessible Facilities.