Mumbai airport’s Terminal II or T2, which celebrated its fifth birthday on Tuesday, has accounted for 25% growth in air traffic movements since 2014 and reduced runway occupancy time from 65 seconds to 47-49 seconds.
GVK Mumbai International Airport Limited (MIAL), which manages the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport, has worked on improving the on-time performance along with stakeholders like the airlines.
An airport spokesperson said that the Mumbai International Airport Limited (MIAL) has measured the time taken by an airline to carry out each activity to optimise an aircraft’s turnaround time. MIAL kept a record of the time taken by an aircraft maintenance engineer to establish contact with the pilot, connecting the aerobridge to the aircraft, passenger boarding and de-boarding, catering loading and unloading, aircraft fuelling and cleaning.
The MIAL spokesperson said, “A critical analysis of activities was done to establish a ‘minimum time required’ for aircraft turn around. Collaborative efforts resulted in improvement in the airport on-time performance, with the average of last seven months having shown an increase of 12%.”
T2, which operates flights to over 112 destinations in India and abroad, set a new record by handling 1,004 aircraft on a single runway on December 8, 2018, surpassing its previous record of handling 1,003 flight movements in a day in June 2018.
The airport was the first to introduce a fully-automated check-in process generating boarding pass and baggage tag through ‘Common Use Self Service’ kiosks along with extended check-in facility located at a host of five-star hotels in the city.
Another first for an Indian airport has been the introduction of ‘comfort dog’ therapy for de-stressing travellers, and introduction of a paid personalised meet and greet services, ‘Pranaam’, which attends to all needs at the airport, ensuring smooth and stress-free travel.
T2 is also the first Indian airport to hold a platinum rating within an Existing Building (O&M) Rating System for its environmentally sustainable profile. T2 also has an installed capacity of 3,205 kWp of solar power and is adding 1,381 kWp. It is the only Indian airport to have received the prestigious Airport Carbon Accreditation extension until 2021.
The airport hosts India’s largest public art initiative, the GVK Jaya He New Museum, which is located inside T2. The airport also offers 21,000 square metres of retail area with 100 retail brands and food outlets.
