Mumbai airport has been steadily seeing passengers return in healthy numbers and began the year surpassing 2019 levels. The second-busiest airport in India has also become a favorite of many airlines, which have been adding plenty of new flights out of Mumbai, contributing to its overall passenger increase.

Crossing pre-pandemic mark

In January, Mumbai’s Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport (BOM) saw around 4.5 million passengers. Of this, more than 3 million were domestic travelers. The Times of India (TOI) quotes a Mumbai International Airport Ltd (MIAL) spokesperson as saying,

“Exhibiting significant growth, the Mumbai airport witnessed a fruitful first month (January) with 4.5 million passengers and 27,331 flights.”

In January 2019, Mumbai airport handled 4.3 million passengers, a 157% increase compared to January 2022, when India and the rest of the world were under the grip of the Omicron wave.

At its peak, when Mumbai-based Jet Airways was operational, the airport routinely handled similar volumes of passengers. On February 12th, the airport also completed nine years of operating Terminal 2, which was opened in 2014.

Getting busier

Mumbai airport’s passenger uptick is not all that surprising. Compared to January 2022, its air traffic has seen a massive jump of 149%. Several airlines have added new flights out of the airport in the last few months as passenger demand for both domestic and international travel has bounced back strongly.

Last year, VietJet started flying between Mumbai and Da Nang in Vietnam, while flynas started connecting the city with Riyadh and Dammam in the Middle East. In November, Vistara started the Mumbai-Dhaka service.

Photo: Damian Pankowiec/Shutterstock

Air Canada, too, launched a service between Toronto and Mumbai via Heathrow as part of its plan to grow its presence in India, while Vistara started connecting it with Muscat in December. The airline also recently announced a service between Mumbai and Mauritius using its Airbus A321LR plane, beginning March 26th.

Air India, too, has been operating more flights out of the city, launching the ultra-long-haul flight to San Francisco and will also start the BOM-JFK flight on February 14th.

Running on 100% green energy

Another milestone that Mumbai airport achieved last year was of relying entirely on green energy. The airport had been gradually shifting towards sustainable sources of energy and became 100% green in its power consumption by August 2022.

Currently, CSMIA gets 5% of its power through solar energy, and the remaining 95% comes from hydro and wind energy. The airport aims to reduce an additional 3,000 tons of emissions annually by making several other operational changes, including replacing traditional airport vehicles with electric variants, and improving waste management, among other things.

What are your views on this? Please leave a comment below.

Source: The Times of India