The busiest single runway airport: Mumbai

It is quite unimaginable that one of the busiest places on earth possesses one of the largest airports in the world with only one runway. That is the case with Mumbai airport, India. Handling 757 flights every single day we can’t begin to comprehend the stress the Air Traffic Control at this airport must be under.

Seconds apart from departure

Every 65 seconds an aircraft touches down or takes off at Mumbai airport making the schedule incredibly vulnerable to unexpected circumstances such as bad weather or runway issues. If, for example, bad weather effects one flight the delays will continue onto all the flights for the rest of the day. Mumbai is the only airport in the world using only one runway to serve such a large city.

Other major cities such as New York, London and Dubai have several airports and runways at their disposal. Another large Indian city, New Delhi, has three runways in use. Delhi handles 21.6% of total air traffic in the country, serving 57.7 million passengers. Mumbai handles 18.6% of the air traffic for a total 45.2 million passengers every year. Compare that to 44 million passengers for London Gatwick airport.