Better punctuality at Mumbai airport comes with higher fares too
₹1.8 lakh for a 40-minute circling time to ₹2.6 lakh for 60 minutes. This not only raised airfares but also affected airport operations, resulting in delays.
The ministry had also observed that the snarl was due to excessive slot allocation by the airport operator for landing and departure with short intervals, airlines not adhering to their slots, and unscheduled flights during peak hours. The Mumbai airport, with two intersecting runways, handles 950-1,000 flights a day and has a capacity to handle 55 million passengers per annum.
The two intersecting runways cannot be operated simultaneously, resulting in single runway operations with a peak capacity of 46 aircraft movements per hour during high intensity operations and 44 aircraft movements otherwise. It handled 44 million passengers in FY23, marginally below the pre-pandemic number of 46 million passengers in FY20.
In April-December 2023, traffic at the Mumbai airport stood at 39 million passengers, up 24.5% on-year and 10% higher than the corresponding pre-covid period in 2019, as per the latest data from Airports Authority of India. The Adani Group acquired a 74% stake in Mumbai’s international airport in July 2021 by picking up GVK Group’s 50.5% stake and a 23.5% stake from ACSA Global Ltd and Bid Services Division (Mauritius) Ltd (Bidvest).
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