Adani group owned Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaja International Airport (CSMIA) on Thursday revealed that it is expecting cross the 51 million passenger mark this fiscal. It is higher than the pre-pandemic mark of 49 million passengers. Experts have deemed the surge in demand and unlocking of new routes from the airport as the reason for this influx of passengers. The airport has received a 109% surge in passengers as compared to 2019.
Mumbai Airport, the second busiest airport after Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International Airport, currently handles around 940 arrivals and departures per day. CSMIA confirmed in a statement that it hosted an enormous total of 60,861 Air Traffic Movements (ATMs) and 20,438 international ATMs in the third quarter of 2023. August 2023 was the busiest month recorded with 43,29,749 passengers passing through the airport. The presence of festivities and long weekends in August encouraged domestic travel in this period.
The top-three domestic destinations from CSMIA included Delhi, Bangalore, and Chennai. These cities collectively hosted more than 3 million passengers contributing to 31% increase as compared to the previous year.
(credits to TOI)
Dubai, London and Abu-Dhabi continued to remain the favourite international destinations for Indians. Specifically, the passenger traffic from the top-three international destination contributed to 21% increase when compared to last year.
IndiGo, AirIndia and Vistara dominated the market-share for the domestic travels. IndiGo, AirIndia and Emirates led the way for the market-share in the international sector. CSMIA has now intumesced its international connections as IndiGo finalised the operations to Nairobi and Jakarta in early August 2023.
“In the current financial year (FY24), we shall be actually crossing 51 million passengers. So, we are growing at a very good pace. Coming out of the Covid, we have done very well,” Prakash Tusianai, Chief Executive of Mumbai Airport, said at the preview event of the premium economy class by Gulf carrier Emirates on the Mumbai-Dubai route. Emirates on Thursday announced it will roll out the premium economy class on its A380 flights to Mumbai and Bangalore from Dubai, starting October 29. Tusiani said many airlines have started operations from Mumbai airport, and a few more destinations are expected to be launched as soon as the airlines get (more) planes. Of the total traffic, domestic traffic accounts for about 75 per cent, while the rest is international, as per the airport. Mumbai Airport has the capacity to handle 55 million passengers annually.
