Delhi And Mumbai Airports Are The World’s Top Two Low-Cost Megahubs

The two busiest airports in India – Delhi (DEL) and Mumbai (BOM) – have also emerged as the top two low-cost Megahubs in 2022. OAG, the leading data platform for the global travel industry, released its Megahubs 2022 report a few days ago, which, among other rankings, also produced a list of the leading airports for low-cost flights.

Delhi and Mumbai lead the low-cost airports list

OAG released its Megahubs 2022 list earlier this month, which lists airports based on several parameters such as international and domestic connections as well as low-cost flights. The report was last updated in 2019 and gives interesting insights into the changes that took place in the aviation sector during the pandemic.

Delhi Airport topped the OAG list of Low-Cost Megahubs 2022. Photo: Getty Images

And two Indian airports – Delhi (DEL) and Mumbai (BOM) – topped the list of low-cost Megahubs in 2022. Both airports climbed several spots from the previous report in 2019 when Delhi was ranked 6th and Mumbai 11th. This year, in the low-cost airports category, Delhi replaced Kuala Lumpur (KUL), which topped the previous list due to the presence of AirAsia.

But these aren’t the only Indian airports in the top 25 low-cost list. Bengaluru (BLR) and Hyderabad (HYD) also featured, ranked 14th and 15th, respectively.

Mumbai airport was second on the list. Photo: Getty Images

To determine these rankings, OG measured several parameters such as total capacity from September 2021 to August 2022 and the total number of all possible flight connections between inbound and outbound flights within a six-hour window on August 12, 2022 — the busiest day for global aviation between September 2021 and August 2022. It applied the same methods for calculating the list of both international and low-cost Megahubs.

IndiGo dominates both airports

The carrier that catapulted both DEL and BOM to the top of the list is India’s largest airline, IndiGo. The budget carrier dominates the schedule of both airports with 34% and 37% share in Delhi and Mumbai, respectively.

In its report, OAG noted,

“The dominant presence of IndiGo at Indian airports has propelled Delhi-Indira Gandhi International Airport (DEL) and Mumbai-Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport (BOM) to 1st and 2nd place.”

IndiGo dominates the schedule of both Delhi and Mumbai. Photo: Getty Images

The hub status of these two airports could get a further push after the Tata Group consolidates its airline business by combining operations of carriers such as Air India, Vistara, and AirAsia India and forming another strong airline.

Global standing

In terms of global ranking, Delhi ranked 13th in 2022 and Mumbai rose to 24th spot from 51st in 2019. The global list was topped by Chicago’s O’Hare (ORD), which moved up from its third-place 2019 ranking and is now the number 1 most internationally connected airport in the world.

Chicago O’Hare International Airport topped the list of global Megahubs in 2022. Photo: Chicago O’Hare International Airport

Delhi also became the top Megahub in the Asia-Pacific region, whereas Hong Kong (HKG), which was in second place in the top 10 Asia-Pacific Megahubs, could not make it into the top 50 this time.

London Heathrow (LHR) dropped to number 22 globally but retained the top European spot, whereas Mexico City Juarez International Airport (MEX) was the most connected non-U.S. airport.

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