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Record flier traffic strains Mumbai airport, stretches staff

Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport registered passenger traffic of 2.15mn last month, the highest logged by an Indian airport.

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MUMBAI: The Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport registered passenger traffic of 2.15 million last month, the highest monthly figure logged by an Indian airport. The breakup: 1.43 million domestic and 0.72 million international passengers.

MG Jhungare, aerodrome general manager, said there has been a 10 per cent increase in air traffic movements (ATM) from last year. “In 2005, daily ATM was 550, which has gone up to about 600 a day,” he said. “Air Traffic Control staff is already handling more flights per hour than sanctioned by the government.”

For an airport striving to achieve traffic of about 40 million passengers per year, 2.15 million in a month may not seem daunting. But the ever-growing traffic has stretched infrastructure and staff. And the pressure is being transmitted to passengers. “More passengers travelling translates into more passengers suffering,” said Mahesh Ranka, a frequent flier. “At peak hours, there is no place to sit. Serpentine queues are often seen at all counters, taking the wait to 20 minutes at each instance.”

Infrastructure has not kept pace with the growth in passenger volume. In fact, of the Rs220 a passenger pays as service fee, Rs140 is taken by the Central Industrial Security Force and only Rs60 is disbursed to Mumbai International Airport Limited, the company that runs the airport. That, officials say, is grossly insufficient given the scale of the required infrastructure growth.

ATC sources said fresh recruitment of personnel is long overdue. As it takes a year to train fresh recruits, authorities were planning to draft professionals from other airports to contend with the rising ATM. But ATC personnel from other states are wary of Mumbai because of its workload. The government approves handling of 30 flights per hour. Mumbai controllers, however, do as many as 35 to 40.

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