Mumbai: Over-lapping flight schedules, on-going construction activity and a unique land-locked location are some of the reason behind perennial delays at Mumbai airport. Though the situation has improved drastically over the last couple of years, flights during peak traffic hours still choke the airport and lead to prolonged delays. However, airport experts feel that it would be unfair to compare Mumbai with other metro airports as it faces major space constraints and handles the second highest passenger traffic in the country.
Mumbai has always been a land-locked airport, located in the heart of the city and flanked by slums and residential areas and roads. Over the last seven years, it has witnessed an almost threefold increase in passenger traffic. It currently handles 30 million passengers, next to Delhi airport which caters to a little over 34 million annually. In terms of area, however, the Mumbai airport is spread over 1190 acres which is only one fifth of Delhi's 5,000 acres. Apart from that, other airports like Bangalore, Chennai and even Kolkata handle only 5-10 million passengers.
21/04/13 Chinmayi Shalya/Times of India
