Creating a new world record for single-runway operations, Mumbai airport handled 969 take-offs and landings in 24 hours on Friday. It is a world record for an airport that operates only one runway at any given point of time.
The Times of India reported that it broke its own record of 935 said a Mumbai International Airport Ltd spokesperson.
The record high air traffic movement (take-offs and landings) happen on days when the number of unscheduled flights-charter aircraft, private aircraft-go up, like it did on Friday. So when the load goes up during non-peak hours, new records are set.
"We hope to cross 1,000 aircraft movements per day soon,'' the MIAL official said, as quoted by The Times of India.
Mumbai’s new record is not just a quirk of kooky design, though. India’s aviation sector—driven by a combination of cheaper air fares and rising incomes—is booming, according to Bloomberg.
Indian carriers flew about 100 million domestic passengers last year, and the International Air Transport Association estimates the market will add about 337 million more in the next two decades.
India is set to be world’s third largest aviation market after China and the United States and there is plenty of room for more growth: budget airline SpiceJet claims that 97% of the country’s 1.3 billion population has never taken a flight.