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Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport

Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport , formerly Sahar International Airport, is an airport in Mumbai (formerly Bombay), India.

The airport, spread notionally over an operational area of 1450 acres (but actually as low as 1000 acres), serves as India's biggest international and domestic hub. Besides, it serves the metropolitan area of the city of Mumbai and the terminals are physically located in the suburbs of Santacruz and Sahar. The airport was formerly known as Sahar International Airport but was recently renamed after the 17th century Maratha King, Chhatrapati Shivaji.

Statistics

Mumbai airport is the busiest in India and South Asia. It is the primary international gateway to the subcontinent and served by 46 international airlines and is also the base for the flag carrier Air India. It also serves as a hub for domestic operators Indian Airlines, Jet Airways, Air Sahara, Go Air, Spice Jet, Indigo and Kingfisher Airlines. Peak international traffic occurs in the night while peak domestic traffic is before 10:00am. Nevertheless, at least 45% of traffic flows between 10:00 am and 6:30 pm daily. The airport averages 600 daily scheduled commercial movements with 17.5 million passengers and 400,000 tons of cargo last year. The rated capacity of the domestic facility has been placed at 10 million passengers per annum. The Mumbai-Delhi route accounts for a substantial portion (over 50%) of Indian domestic traffic, passenger revenues etc. There are said to be 35 flights daily between the two airports in each direction.

Fixed Base Operators (FBO)

Caterers: TAJ-SATS, Ambassador's Sky Chef, Sky Gourmet, Oberoi Flight Services, Chef Air.

Fuelers: Indian Oil, Hindustan Petroleum, Bharat Petroleum.

Ground Handlers: Air India, Indian Airlines, Cambata Aviation, Air Works India.

Structure

The airport consists of the International Terminal (Terminal 2 aka Sahar) and the Domestic Terminal (Terminal 1 aka SantaCruz). These terminals use the same airside facilities but are physically separated on the landside, requiring a 10-15 minute drive between them. The Airport Authorities of India provide shuttle services between the domestic and international terminals for connecting passengers. Terminal 1 is further divided into Terminal 1-A serving Indian, its subsidiary Alliance Air, Kingfisher Airlines, Go Air, and Terminal 1-B serving Jet Airways, Air Sahara, SpiceJet, Air Deccan and other private domestic carriers. Terminal 2, designed by Aeroports de Paris and opened in January 1981, is now Terminal 2-A--the original complex consisting of parking bays 41-46, namely, gates 3 to 8--which serves most airlines whereas Terminal 2-C, inaugurated in October 1999, is exclusively for Air India, Air India Express and those carriers whose ground operations are handled by Air India. Terminal 2-B, currently mothballed, functioned as an extension wing between September 1986 and October 1999 for Air India and handled airlines.

Bombay airport has 2 cross runways designated 09/27 and 14/32. Runway 14/32 (2,925 m or 9,619 ft) runs between terminals 1 and 2, while the main runway 09/27 (3,489 m or 11,447 ft) intersects it south of the terminal buildings. ILS approaches are available on the 27 (CAT II) and 09, 14 and 32 ends (CAT I). As regards actual (truncated) use of both runways, only 11,303 ft (3,445 m) is designated usable at 09/27 and 9,596 ft at 14/32, especially for landings. Runway 14 approach requires aircraft to backtrack and exit upon landing as the turning pad at 32 end is unusable. Due to maintenance runway 09/27 is unavailable for landing or take off between 0715-0915Z on Mon. and Sat., and between 0715-0845Z on Wed..

From January 1, 2006, both runways were operated simultaneously for three hours in the morning i.e. from 5:30 am to 8:30 am. On average, about 50 flights of smaller aircraft have taken off daily from 14/32 in this time period. Since the experiment was deemed successful it has recently been decided to carry out simultaneous use in the evenings too. It is not clear if this will be for two hours or three hours. A rate of 25 departures per hour is being targetted in the evening slot. The problems with utilising 14/32 are: (i) Bombay's controversial new control tower erected in 1996 and some 72 m or 236 ft tall penetrates transitional obstacle limitation surfaces by over 50 m for instrument approaches, and in excess of 40 m for visuals. Approach minima at both 14 and 32 ends are higher (based on best approach aid) and are as follows: RW 14 (DA 580 ft), RW 32 (MDA 1440 ft) compared to RW 09 (DA 270 ft) or RW 27 (DA230 ft), meaning that there is a higher probability of missed approaches and diversions in inclement weather (ii) a hillock lies 4.5 nm away from the 32 end, an approach also questioned recently by security agencies because the BARC nuclear complex at Trombay (Anushakti Nagar) lies within its flight path.

Travel times

Journey times from the airport to the centre of Mumbai can vary significantly depending on traffic, typically taking between 40 and 120 minutes. There is no direct rail link from the airport, but ample public transportation is available. Prepaid taxi counters are available at the international airport. A number of chain and independent hotels are located in proximity to the airport. Some of them are ITC Grand Maratha Sheraton, The Intercontinental, Le Royal Meridien, Hyatt Regency and The Leela.

Upgrades

The airport is currently undergoing upgrades in order to make it compatible with the new Airbus A380. The changes include installation of a two tiered aerobridge, expansion of taxi bays and concrete reinforcements of the runway. Terminal 2-C is most likely to be assigned to handle the passenger load. Work is estimated to be completed by mid-2006. Terminal 1-B now has a refurbished check-in area.

During March and April 2006, rapid exit taxiways were being built for the main runway 09/27 wherein the flights between 1200 noon and 2000 hrs. will be operated solely from the secondary runway 14/32, which is expected to result in delays since 14/32 is able to handle only 15 flights an hour as against 30 flights for 09/27 required for handling larger aircraft such as A340, A330, 747 and 777.

Recently a consortium called Mumbai International Airport Ltd (MIAL), consisting of GVK and South African Airports (SAA), was appointed to carry out the modernisation of the Mumbai Airport in the face of stiff competition from contenders such as Sterlite and Reliance. Among other things GVK-SAA has committed to getting slum encroachments removed for the purpose of a new parallel runway. If major hurdles are faced then it is felt that a new international airport may have to be expedited at Navi Mumbai. The existing airport would continue. Present policy envisages that the GVK-SAA consortium would have first rights of refusal in the case of the second airport. They would be allowed to match the highest bid if the difference was 10% or less. It is believed that there will be stiff competition between GVK/SAA and the Reliance Group(s) for bagging the project for the new airport.

In the meantime, MIAL is undertaking the installation of a centralised data system which will provide information about domestic as well as international flights to all display devices at both terminals instead of just one or the other as at present. This will be done in a few months. There are plans to extend the scope of the system to the ATC and apron control areas, the airport website and even to leading hotel chains. A centralised call centre to provide flight details is also envisaged. While a parallel runway seems to have been ruled out, the ATC tower is now expected to be taken down and relocated to facilitate cross-runway operation.

Airlines

Terminal 1-A

  1. IC - Indian (Domestic) (Ahmedabad, Aurangabad, Bangalore, Bhubaneswar, Chandigarh, Chennai, Coimbatore, Delhi, Goa, Hyderabad, Indore, Jaipur, Jamnagar, Kochi, Kolkata, Kozhikode, Madurai, Nagpur, Patna, Raipur, Ranchi, Srinagar, Thiruvananthapuram, Vadodara, Varanasi)
  2. CD - Alliance Air
  3. IT - Kingfisher Airlines (Bangalore, Chennai, Goa, Kolkata, Srinagar)

Terminal 1-B

  1. 9W - Jet Airways (Aurangabad, Bhavnagar, Bhuj, Chennai, Coimbatore, Delhi, Goa, Guwahati, Hyderabad, Imphal, Indore, Jaipur, Kochi, Kolkata, Kozhikode, Nagpur, Pune, Raipur, Thiruvananthapuram, Vadodara)
  2. S2 - Air Sahara (Delhi, Guwahati, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Lucknow, Patna, Varanasi)
  3. DN - Air Deccan (Aurangabad, Bhavnagar, Chennai, Coimbatore, Delhi, Goa, Hyderabad, Jamnagar, Kochi, Kolkata, Nagpur, Thiruvananthapuram, Vadodara)
  4. 0S - SpiceJet (Chennai, Delhi, Goa, Hyderabad)
  5. G8 - Go Air (Ahmedabad, Coimbatore, Delhi, Goa, Jaipur, Kochi, Srinagar, Vadodara)

Terminal 2-A

  1. G9 - Air Arabia (Sharjah)
  2. AZ - Alitalia (Milan-Malpensa)
  3. OS - Austrian Airlines (Vienna)
  4. BA - British Airways (London-Heathrow)
  5. CX - Cathay Pacific (Hong Kong, Bangkok, Dubai)
  6. DL - Delta Air Lines (Atlanta, New York-JFK)
  7. LY - El Al (Tel Aviv)
  8. EK - Emirates (Dubai)
  9. EY - Etihad (Abu Dhabi)
  10. GF - Gulf Air (Bahrain, Muscat)
  11. IC - Indian (International) (Bangkok, Dubai, Sharjah)
  12. J9 - Jazeera Airways (Kuwait)
  13. 9W - Jet Airways (London-Heathrow, Singapore)
  14. KQ - Kenya Airways (Nairobi)
  15. KU - Kuwait Airways (Kuwait)
  16. LH - Lufthansa (Frankfurt)
  17. NW - Northwest Airlines (Amsterdam, Minneapolis/St. Paul)
  18. WY - Oman Air (Muscat)
  19. PK - Pakistan International Airlines (Karachi)
  20. QF - Qantas (Sydney, Darwin)
  21. QR - Qatar Airways (Doha)
  22. SV - Saudi Arabian Airlines (Dammam, Jeddah, Medina, Riyadh)
  23. UL - SriLankan Airlines (Colombo, Karachi)
  24. LX - Swiss International Air Lines (Zürich)
  25. VS - Virgin Atlantic Airways (London-Heathrow)

Terminal 2-C

  1. SU - Aeroflot (Moscow-Sheremetyevo)
  2. AF - Air France (Paris-Charles de Gaulle)
  3. AI - Air India (Ahmedabad, Amritsar, Bahrain, Bangalore, Bangkok, Chennai, Chicago-O'Hare, Delhi, Dubai, Frankfurt, Goa, Hong Kong, Hyderabad, Jakarta, Kochi, Kuwait, London-Heathrow, Los Angeles, Lucknow, Newark, New York-JFK, Osaka-Kansai, Paris-Charles de Gaulle, Shanghai-Pudong, Singapore, Tokyo-Narita, Toronto)
  4. IX - Air India Express
  5. MK - Air Mauritius (Mauritius)
  6. BG - Biman Bangladesh Airlines (Dhaka, Dubai)
  7. B3 - Bellview Airlines (Lagos)
  8. MS - EgyptAir (Cairo)
  9. ET - Ethiopian Airlines (Addis Ababa)
  10. BR - EVA Air (Taipei-Taiwan Taoyuan)
  11. IR - Iran Air (Teheran)
  12. KE - Korean Air (Seoul-Incheon)
  13. MH - Malaysia Airlines (Kuala Lumpur)
  14. RJ - Royal Jordanian Airlines (Amman)
  15. RA - Royal Nepal Airlines (Kathmandu)
  16. SQ - Singapore Airlines (Singapore)
  17. SA - South African Airways (Johannesburg)
  18. RB - Syrian Arab Airlines (Damascus, Abu Dhabi)
  19. IY - Yemenia (Aden, Sanaa)
  20. TG - Thai Airways International (Bangkok)
  21. TK - Turkish Airlines (Istanbul-Atatürk)

The following have discontinued operations from Bombay: Air Canada, All Nippon, Air Seychelles, TWA, Pan Am, Tower Air, Canada 3000, Sabena, Swiss Air, CSA, LOT Polish, KLM Royal Dutch Airlines, Iberia, Alyemda, Iraqi Airways, MEA, TMA, Zambia Airways, Garuda Indonesia, Hinduja Cargo Services, Continental Airways, Citylink Airways, Raj Aviation, Goa Holiday, Air Asiatic, NEPC, Damania, East-West Airlines, ModiLuft, Pushpaka Aviation, Huns Air, Vayudoot, China Eastern.

External links

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