By operating the maximum number of aircrafts in 24 hours, the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport (CSMIA) broke its own record on Saturday. The airport handled a record 1004 flight movements in a day bettering its own record of operating 1003 flights in June this year. Part of the credits for this accolade goes to the incoming of guests for the pre-wedding bash of Isha Ambani and Anand Piramal in Udaipur.
Sources said that the spike in flight operations is mainly due to the excess demand for flights and charter aircrafts to Udaipur by several VVIPs attending the wedding function. “We have ferried 1004 flights on a single runway within 24 hours. If we compare even internationally, then the busy Gatwick airport too falls behind as they do not ferry these many flight movements,” said an official from Mumbai International Airport Limited (MIAL).
MIAL officials said that a host of politicians, corporate honchos and Bollywood stars flew in private jets from Mumbai to attend the celebrations that began on Friday. In all, 903 flights were scheduled while 59 flights were non-scheduled. There were eight chartered flights, 31 freighter and three military flights that flew from Mumbai as well.
Similarly, the Maharana Pratap airport in Udaipur saw over 200 chartered flights fly into the city for the pre-wedding bash. The Ambani family has, apparently, booked 20 aircrafts from commercial airlines for their guests. These chartered flights heading to Udaipur will ferry VVIPs.
Mumbai airport, with two crossing runways — 09/27 (primary) and 14/32 (the secondary runway) — is the main hub for airlines. Usually, the primary runway is used for flight movements wherein it handles up to 48 arrivals and departures per hour; while the secondary runway has a capacity of 35 flight movements per hour.
The GVK consortium-led Mumbai airport handled 48.49 million passengers in the fiscal year ending March 31, 2018, registering a 7.4 per cent growth over FY17. Isha Ambani will marry Piramal scion Anand Piramal on Wednesday at Antilia.
FLIGHT RECORD
1,004 December 8
1,003 June 5
988 May 19
980 February 10
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