Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International Airport (DEL) took the highest share of international departures passenger traffic among Asia Pacific’s airports in the first quarter of this year, according to a ranking of the region’s top 20 airports courtesy of m1nd-set.

Data from the Swiss travel and travel retail research firm’s B1S traffic platform, shared exclusively with TRBusiness, shows DEL took a 7.7% slice of pax volumes in the first quarter of 2021 to total 531,536 passengers.

Joining DEL in the top five (in descending order) were Incheon International Airport in Seoul (7.4%), Dhaka Shahjalal International Airport (4.6%), Ninoy Aquino International Airport in Manila (3.7%), and Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport in Mumbai (3.7%).

These airports outperformed seasoned heavyweights such as Singapore Changi Airport (3.3%) ranked seventh and Tokyo Narita International Airport in eighth – both of which regularly feature in TRBusiness’ Top 10 Annual Airport Operators report ranked by DF&TR revenues.

ASPAC CONVERSION REMAINS HIGH

A list of the top 20 final international destinations from Asia Pacific airports in Q1 reveals DEL in first place again with a 7.7% share of pax at 527,282, followed by Incheon International Airport, (6.9%), Dhaka Shahjalal International Airport (4.6%), Ninoy Aquino International Airport (3.7%) and Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport (3.7%).

Insights shared with TRBusiness in the June Asia Pacific edition of the interactive e-zine offers a unique snapshot of the passenger traffic picture in Asia Pacific.

International departures from the region dropped by 82% to 93 million in the 12 months ending Q4 2020, according to the B1S data, although a 23% uptick is expected this year [albeit from the smaller pax base] to reach 115 million by the end of 2021.

Growth is forecast to explode by 193% to the end of 2022 to total 336 million travellers as the region’s recovery gathers pace, before climbing by 54% to 518 million passengers in 2023.

The share of footfall to duty free shops in the region as a percentage of total pax reached 35% over H2 this year – only fractionally lower than the average share of total instore footfall among all global travellers and shoppers worldwide (39%).

However, conversion among Asia Pacific travelling shoppers has been significantly higher this year (64%) versus the total average for all regions (56%) and has remained stable versus Q1 2020 (65%).

Indeed, despite the decreasing trend globally towards lower conversion rates, it is interesting to note that levels in Asia Pacific are significantly higher versus the total average for all regions.

For the full report available in the TRBusiness June e-zine, click here.