Mumbai International Airport, in India, has set a new world record for the number of takeoffs and landings in 24 hours, according to The Times of India.
The record was set on Friday, November 24, when the airport performed 969 takeoffs and landings in one day. Thus, the previous record of 935 flights, also set by the airport in Mumbai, was broken.
Although the airport has two runways, it is technically a single-runway airport. This is because the runways overlap, making simultaneous use impossible. This places the Indian airport on par with secondary airports such as London Gatwick and Istanbul Sabiha Gokcen. Furthermore, London Gatwick is the only single-runway airport in the world that handles more than 50 aircraft per hour.
According to statistics, the Indian airport handles approximately 900 flights per day. Record numbers of departures and arrivals occur on days when many charter flights are scheduled.
According to a senior air traffic controller, the right combination of aircraft and weather conditions allows for 10 takeoffs or landings to be handled in 10 minutes. This means the record is only possible when wind speed and visibility are good, all aircraft involved are Airbus A320s, Boeing 737s, or similar in speed and weight, and all are flown by pilots well-versed in the Mumbai airport layout.
Airport representatives are confident that they will soon be able to set a new record – 1,000 aircraft in a day.
Source: news.turizm.ru