Mumbai’s Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport (BOM) set a new world record for a single-runway airport on January 20 by handling 980 flights in a 24-hour period, surpassing its previous mark of 974 flights set on December 6, 2017.
The airport first overtook London Gatwick as the busiest single-runway airport in March 2017, when it handled 837 flights in a single day. Gatwick’s highest instantaneous count was 757 movements, and it typically operates around 870 flights per day. Although Gatwick manages slightly fewer daily movements than Mumbai, it is regarded as highly efficient partly because it operates for about 19 hours each day rather than around the clock.
A senior Mumbai air traffic controller told The Times of India that the two airports operate in very different contexts. “The most important difference between Gatwick and Mumbai is the environment the two airports are set in. Mumbai airport functions in a space‑starved, infrastructure‑constrained environment, unlike any other. More flights can’t be added onto Mumbai’s single runway without a holistic approach that takes into account the ground realities, India’s regulatory framework, human factors, etc.,” they said.
London benefits from multiple airports across the region, while Mumbai’s commercial air traffic is concentrated at Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport, which places greater pressure on a single runway to meet growing demand.