New Delhi's Indira Gandhi International Airport (IGIA) moved four spots to become the 12th busiest airport in the world for 2018. In the previous year, it was named the 16th busiest airport and overtook mega-hubs like Frankfurt, Dallas Forth Worth, Guangzhou, and Istanbul Ataturk airports to climb to the new rank.

Data collected for the preliminary world airport traffic rankings for 2018 released by Airports Council International (ACI) showed that there was a 10.2 percent year-on-year increase in domestic and international flyers to IGIA in 2018 to 6.99 crore. Seoul's Incheon International, which is ranked at the 16th place, saw growth as close to Delhi's at 10 percent.

Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport in the US was named the busiest airport in the world, retaining its rank and handled a combined 10.7 crore passengers in 2018. It was followed by Beijing Capital (10.1 crore) and Dubai International (8.9 crore) at the second and third spot respectively, just like in 2017.

Los Angeles International Airport moved one spot higher, overtaking Tokyo Haneda to the fourth spot with 8.8 crore passengers compared to the latter's 8.7 crore.

Being the busiest airport in a country that is the world's fastest-growing aviation market, Delhi's IGIA's growth will be at a much larger scale once the ongoing infrastructure expansion is completed.

"India became the world's third-largest aviation market in terms of passenger throughput, behind the US and China, in 2018," ACI's statement said.