CSIA fortifies Mumbai’s international connectivity

Jun 30, 2017: The world’s busiest airport operating on a single runway GVK MIAL’s Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport (CSIA) in Mumbai has announced the commencement of direct flight operations by Air Canada starting July 2. This is part of the move to further enhance the seamless air connectivity offered to flyers from the financial capital of India.

Apart from introducing direct services to Toronto, MIAL, in the past six months, has launched four new direct routes to Jakarta, Bali, Brussels and Kigali.

In keeping with this endeavour, the new Mumbai-Toronto route will be serviced by Air Canada all year long, deploying a Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner with a capacity of 298 passengers and two-class configuration of business class and economy. For the Mumbai-Singapore route, Singapore Airlines will now use an extra wide body Airbus A350-900 XWB with a capacity of 253 passengers and a standard three-class configuration, starting July 1.

The Mumbai-Canada and Mumbai-Singapore corridors offer tremendous business opportunities, as with the other routes served by CSIA. Facilitating non-stop flights to and from the financial capital of India will further strengthen the foundation of city’s rapidly developing trade and commerce relationship with other countries.

Representing 17 percent of all India traffic, CSIA offers state-of-the-art technology and infrastructure that allows airlines to commence direct flight operations in order to support the burgeoning number of domestic and international travellers transiting through the city. As the airport offers the best-in-class infrastructure required to handle wide-bodied planes, more and more airlines are choosing to operate larger aircraft from the city.

A key gateway of India, the Mumbai International Airport has over 45 airlines operating to 48 destinations from the city to various parts of the world. Handling 12.4 million international passengers, CSIA ranked second in the foreign tourist arrivals in India in FY 2017.

At present, B777 and A380, as well as A350 aircraft, are being operated at CSIA, on the Mumbai-Singapore and the Mumbai-Munich route respectively. The Mumbai-Addis Abba route has also been served by the A350 since April 2017. Handling the maximum daily air traffic movements (ATMs) on a single runway system in the world, CSIA also briefly earned the distinction of being the only airport in India to handle 4 code F operations per day.