1,004 flights a day in Mumbai airport! Ambani wedding rush behind record

Mumbai: The capacity-constrained Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport (CSMIA) Saturday handled a record 1,004 aircraft movements in a day, bettering its earlier record of 1,003 flight movements in 24 hours in June this year.

Sources said the feat was achieved in the wake of the pre-wedding bash of Isha Ambani, daughter of industrialist and India's richest person Mukesh Ambani, in Udaipur in Rajasthan.

They said a host of politicians, corporate honchos and Bollywood stars flew in private jets from Mumbai to attend the celebrations that started on Friday.

A Mumbai International Airport Ltd (MIAL) spokesperson confirmed that the airport handled a record 1,004 arrivals and departures on Saturday, but did not divulge the factors leading to the surge in traffic movement.

"Mumbai airport handled a record 1,004 flights in a single day on Saturday. The earlier best for the airport was 1,003 arrivals and departures which was achieved on June 5," the spokesperson said.

As many as 903 scheduled, 59 non-scheduled, 8 charter, 31 freighter and 3 military flights were handled by the airport, the spokesperson said.

The June 5 record was on account of a number of flight diversions to the Mumbai airport following the dust storm that hit New Delhi.

Earlier in the day, the MIAL spokesperson had said the airport recorded 1,007 aircraft movements Saturday, but did not give the break-up.

According to the sources, the airport witnessed increased charter aircraft operations on Saturday due to the pre-marriage celebrations of Isha Ambani, who is set to marry Piramal scion Anand Piramal on Wednesday at Antilia, the residence of the Mukesh Ambani family in south Mumbai.

Mumbai airport, with two crossing runways - 09/27 (the main) and 14/32 (the secondary runway) - is the main hub of full service carrier Jet Airways and budget airline GoAir.

While the primary runway can handle up to 48 arrivals and departures per hour, 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 ended March 31, 2018, registering a 7.4 per cent growth over FY17.