Mumbai: The Mumbai airport broke its own record of flight movements by handling 1,004 aircraft on a single runway in a 24-hour period between Friday midnight and Saturday. The airport records an average of 950 daily flight movements.
Mumbai International Airport Ltd (MIAL), the operator, said on Sunday the airport successfully handled 1,004 takeoffs and landings, surpassing its handling of 1,003 movements recorded on June 5.
Airport sources attributed this to the number of private jets (59) and charter flights (8) that operated to Udaipur ferrying guests for Isha Ambani and Anand Piramal’s pre-wedding celebrations.
A MIAL spokesperson said between Friday midnight and Saturday, the airport recorded movements by 903 scheduled aircraft, 59 non-scheduled (private jets), 8 charter (special hired flights operated by regular scheduled airlines), 31 freighter, and 3 military aircraft. Air Traffic Control officials in Mumbai and Udaipur said besides private aircraft, about 20 aircraft from commercial airlines had been operated for the pre-wedding celebrations.
It is learnt Vistara operated at least 10 one-way charters from Delhi and Mumbai to Udaipur, while SpiceJet, Jet Airways, and Air Asia, together, flew more flights.
On June 5, the MIAL had set a record in aircraft movements due to a thunderstorm the previous day, which had led to a large number of delays and diversions. This led to 1,003 flight movements being achieved as all the delayed and diverted aircraft landed in Mumbai.
