It seems the Mumbai airport has lost its hold as the busiest airport in the country if passenger traffic and air traffic movement figures are to be believed. The Delhi airport has superseded Mumbai as the busiest in the country and it is only expected to consolidate its lead. Passenger traffic and air traffic movement figures reveal that Mumbai airport, which has been the busiest in the country since 2006-08, is now reaching a point of saturation, due to a dearth of space and delay in building a second airport.
Though passenger traffic in Delhi was only 1.4 per cent higher than Mumbai and flight movements higher by 11.61 per cent in 2010, industry experts say the gap between the two airports will only widen from here. Despite a severe space crunch and hence limited infrastructure, the Mumbai international airport till recently handled more traffic than Delhi. In 2006, Mumbai handled 21.37 million passengers whereas Delhi had 19.37 million passengers, according to a report by Chinmayi Shalya in The Times of India. The trend continued in 2007 and 2008 with Mumbai being way ahead of Delhi in passenger traffic. The scenario changed in 2009 when Delhi airport took a leap to 25.25 million passengers annually and Mumbai lagged behind with 24.80 million. In 2010, Delhi handled 28.53 million passengers and Mumbai 28.13 million. Air traffic movement growth in Mumbai had slowed down in comparison to Delhi. “Mumbai has a very well-utilised airport. However, it faces a major space crunch which puts it at bigger odds than Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International airport,” said a Delhi airport official. “While Mumbai has kept up the growth rate despite the odds, it will now need another airport,” he added. The differences, according to most analysts, are stark between the two airports and any comparison would be unfair. Mumbai airport handled almost 29 million passengers in 2010-11.
Click here to see the original article>Though passenger traffic in Delhi was only 1.4 per cent higher than Mumbai and flight movements higher by 11.61 per cent in 2010, industry experts say the gap between the two airports will only widen from here. Despite a severe space crunch and hence limited infrastructure, the Mumbai international airport till recently handled more traffic than Delhi. In 2006, Mumbai handled 21.37 million passengers whereas Delhi had 19.37 million passengers, according to a report by Chinmayi Shalya in The Times of India. The trend continued in 2007 and 2008 with Mumbai being way ahead of Delhi in passenger traffic. The scenario changed in 2009 when Delhi airport took a leap to 25.25 million passengers annually and Mumbai lagged behind with 24.80 million. In 2010, Delhi handled 28.53 million passengers and Mumbai 28.13 million. Air traffic movement growth in Mumbai had slowed down in comparison to Delhi. “Mumbai has a very well-utilised airport. However, it faces a major space crunch which puts it at bigger odds than Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International airport,” said a Delhi airport official. “While Mumbai has kept up the growth rate despite the odds, it will now need another airport,” he added. The differences, according to most analysts, are stark between the two airports and any comparison would be unfair. Mumbai airport handled almost 29 million passengers in 2010-11.