In the current winter schedule, Bengaluru will be handling 731 flights per day.

NEW DELHI: Bengaluru’s Kempegowda International Airport (KIA), whose second runway will be operational from December 5, is set to handle more flights per day than Mumbai by next winter, pushing Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport to the third position.

Delhi’s IGI Airport, which overtook Mumbai in 2009 to become India’s busiest, will retain the top slot for several years — possibly, decades — to come.

With its two cross runways, Mumbai is handling its peak capacity of 960 flights a day — a figure that has touched the 1,000-mark on a few occasions.

In winter, Bengaluru to handle 731 flights daily

But it has no capacity to handle more flights with its air traffic controllers putting in efforts to make it the world’s busiest single-runway airport.

In the current winter schedule, Bengaluru will be handling 731 flights per day. “Once the second runway becomes operational on December 5, KIA will see its flight handling capacity rise significantly. While Mumbai can’t go beyond the 970-mark, KIA will overtake this figure by next winter,” said a senior ATC official.

Bengaluru airport did not give projections on how it expects daily aircraft movement to rise once the second runway gets operational.

Delhi airport, on the other hand, is going to get its fourth runway by summer of 2021. Next summer, it will be handling 1,515 daily flights with three runways.

“India’s busiest airports — in terms of daily flight handling capacity — are Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Chennai and Kolkata. Mumbai airport can’t handle more flights while KIA will keep growing once the new runway is operational,” said the official.

Mumbai had, for decades, been India’s biggest aviation hub. But the two cross runways meant it has reached its peak. The financial capital will get more air connectivity only when the Navi Mumbai airport gets operational in a couple of years. Delhi-NCR is also getting a second airport in Jewar, Uttar Pradesh, which is likely to start operations in 3-4 years.

