‘Airport in Mumbai set to cross its maximum capacity soon’

The city airport, which touched its passenger handling capacity of 48.5 million in March, will cross its stretched passenger handling capacity of 52 million in the 2019-20, said a study by Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation (CAPA), India, an aviation think tank.

According to the report, after 2023, the capacity required at airports in India will go up drastically every five years, which means there will be an exponential rise in the number of passengers.

CAPA said the Airports Authority of India (AAI), which is responsible for building airport infrastructure, is unable to meet the demands. “AAI’s limited ability to build new airport infrastructure on a timely basis is not the agency’s fault, as they are over-burdened,” the report said.

According to CAPA, the government should formulate an independent apex body, Airports Commission of India (ACI), under the ministry of civil aviation for strategic planning and productivity in the sector.

CAPA said the ACI must focus on three key strategic national objectives – Design and build AAI of future, establish an airport productivity commission under the Airports Commission of India and develop a national airport master plan.