The international airport in Mumbai which is known as Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport is the main airport of Mumbai and of India. In matters of passenger volume, Mumbai Airport is second largest in South Asia.

Mumbai Airport has five terminals that are operational. The airport in Mumbai covers a total area of 5.9 sq. km or 1450 acres. The Mumbai airport is India’s largest airport. It is also the largest in South Asia. Thus, it is considered as one of the most significant hubs of aviation. The Mumbai Airports [both domestic and international] handle around 29.1 million passengers and more than 6 lakhs tons of cargo. In fact, Delhi and Mumbai airports combined together are responsible for managing half of South Asia’s air traffic. The airport in Mumbai was considered the busiest in India in matters of passenger traffic going and coming from abroad. It was the second busiest in matters of overall traffic of passengers. The airport was earlier known as Sahar International Airport and Santa Cruz domestic airport. For the purpose of convenience, both the airports were amalgamated. The new amalgamated airport came to be known as Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport. The airport has been renamed after the brave Maratha ruler, Chhatrapati Shivaji. For the purpose of modernization, a company called Mumbai International Airport Limited was formed. It was a merger of GVK Industries Ltd., Bidvest and Airports Company of South Africa.

There are two significant terminals of the airport: terminal 1 which handles domestic traffic and terminal 2 that manages international flights. Both the terminals use the same runways but are separated at landsides. They are located at a 15-20 minutes drive. The MIAL is responsible for operating coach services between international and domestic terminals. This is to provide convenience to transit passengers. The domestic terminal is further divided into Terminal 1-A for Air India and Kingfisher. Terminal 1-B is the original building of Santa Cruz and serves low cost private airlines like Jetlite, SpiceJet, GoAir and IndiGo Airlines. Terminal 1-C was recently opened by Jet Airways, exclusively for its passengers. The international terminal has been designed by Aeroports De Paris. This was made operational in 1981. It is further divided as 2-A, 2-B, 2-C. the initial complex, 2-A, has parking bays 41-46. It contains 3-8 gates. 2-A was the first terminal where the first aerobridges were installed in India. The aerobridge proved to be of great convenience for international traffic. In October 1999, terminal 2-C was inaugurated to handle Air India and Air India Express. 

This International Airport has won many awards and accolades. It has been ranked as fourth amongst the best airports operational on the globe. This rank was given by Airport International Council for food courts, spas, and aerobridges. It has been ranked as the Best Airport by the same Council. The ‘Air Passengers Association of India’ gave CSI airport the title of ‘Best Airport’ in terms of Public-Private Partnership. Frost and Sullivan have given it the award for Aeronautical Excellence for the year 2008.

Despite the modernization, the Mumbai Airport is not sufficient to handle the volume of traffic it handles today. Hence, a new project has been proposed to build another airport at Kharghar. 

Article Posted By : tamil  On June 05, 2011lView All Articles

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Mumbai , Mumbai Airport