Over 20 Million Passengers And Around 240,000 Flights Jostled For Space At
The City Airport Last Financial Year
Manju V
More than 20 million passengers have used the Mumbai airport in 11
months since April 2006. The queues outside the checkin counters have become
longer. And, with 678 flights taking off and landing daily right now, each
plane spends more time circling, waiting for a place to land. There is a
severe dearth of parking bays already and officials dread to think of the
scene three years from now when, projections say, 28 million passengers will
throng the airport every year.
Mumbai’s airport could have grown; the only problem is that the airport
that Mumbai uses right now is locked by slums.
All this has finally forced the authorities to give the go-ahead to the
plans for having a second airport in Navi Mumbai.
Handling 20 million passengers a year, however, is not really a huge
thing in the aviation world. JFK in New York and London’s Heathrow handle
many more passengers. But these cities, too, have felt the need to have
other airports supplementing the main one.
The projections for Mumbai, actually, say it will be joining the league
of New York in a few years. New York’s three airports (excluding Teterboro
that is used for general-aviation flights) handle 100 million passengers a
year; Mumbai, by the 2025, is likely to have 80 million air passengers every
year.
“How many airports will we have by 2025?” a top airline official asked
on Friday. Right now, Mumbai perhaps is the only metro serviced by only one
airport having only a pair of cross-runways.
Mumbai’s single airport would not be able to bear the burden of growth
for more than six years, a top aviation consultant said.
If the Navi Mumbai airport does not materialise by then, then India
could become a case study of how infrastructure constraints can stifle even
the fastest-growing of industries.
“This is the busiest airport in India and has no satellite to share its
burden. The authorities should have thought of a second functional airport
for the city at least five years back,” a senior airline official said. “It
is not just circling to land or dearth of parking bays. During peak hours,
like in the morning for instance, our check-in time is about 40 minutes. We
have been working hard to reduce this but there is only little one can do
when you have only a few check-in counters,” he added.
“The number of domestic flights went up by 50 per cent last year. This
year, too, the growth will be substantial with at least four aircraft
entering fleets every month. The aircraft import permissions procured by the
chartered industry and private aircraft owners mean one aircraft is being
added in this sector every three days. What remains to be seen is how long
can we go on before the second airport becomes reality,” an aviation
analyst said.
THE LOCATION
The proposed airport will be located near a village called Chinchpada in
Navi Mumbai, about 3 km from Panvel and about 2 km from National Highway 4B.
The site is 51 km from Nariman Point (the Santacruz airport is about 25 km
from Nariman Point).
SITE MAP
The distance between the site of the proposed airport and the existing one
is 35 km.. The new airport will have a river, called Ghadi, running close to
it just like the airport at Santacruz has the Mithi.
THE SPACE CRUNCH AT OUR AIRPORT
Passengers using airport between April 2006 and
February 2007: 20 million
Domestic: 13.5 million
International: 6.5 million
Average annual growth of passenger traffic now:
21.28%
Projected passenger traffic in Mumbai
Metropolitan Region in 2030-’31: 91 million
Number of landings and take-offs every day now:
678
THE SOLUTION
A second airport will help take the load off the Santacruz airport
THE DATE
The first phase of the airport is likely to be operational by 2011.
AROUND THE WORLD
Big cities around the world have gone in for multiple airports to ease
congestion
NEW YORK
The JFK International Airport, located about 24 km from mid-town Manhattan,
is the largest airport in New York with two pairs of parallel runways and
eight passenger terminals; it is currently undergoing a $-10.3-million
redevelopment. But the city has three more airports – Newark, La Guardia and
Teterboro – which together handle more passenger traffic than JFK. JFK
handled 41 million passengers in 2005; Newark and La Guardia handled 33
million and 26 million passengers, respectively. La Guardia, with its four
terminals, mostly handles domestic flights and flights to Canada and Newark
handles its share of international flights. But New York’s first airport was
Teterboro, which became operational in 1919. It now handles general aviation
flights (including training flights and private aircraft) with its two
runways and 19 hangars.
LONDON
Heathrow handled 67.7 million passengers in 2005. But it has three satellite
airports: Gatwick, Stansted and Luton. The growing passenger traffic has
forced the airport to expand, much against the wishes of people living
around. Heathrow has four passenger terminals and two parallel runways and
there are plans for a third runway and two more terminal buildings despite
the fact that this airport is solely used by airline operators. Chartered
flightoperators largely use Gatwick, which has two runways and two terminal
buildings. Gatwick handled 34 million passengers in 2006. It also offers
facilities for business-class travellers (like executive lounges, and
fast-track clearance). European low-cost airlines go to Stansted and Luton.
Stansted handled 2.19 million passengers and Luton 9.13 million in 2005.
GROUND ZERO: Chinchpada (above and top, right) remains a sleepy hamlet
despite the plans the Centre has drawn up for an airport