Mumbai airport set to add 24 daily flights to Southeast Asian countries

MIAL is seeing an increasing passenger traffic travelling to Southeast Asian countries like Singapore, Thailand, Bangkok, among other destinations, the officials said. A total of 488,538 passengers — 669 passengers per day each way — traveled between Mumbai-Bangkok-Mumbai in financial year 2018-19.

Witnessing increasing passenger traffic from Mumbai to southeast Asian countries, GVK led Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport (CSMIA) is set to add 24 daily flights for travelling to Southeast Asian countries.

Passengers check the status of their flights at a Jet Airways ticketing counter at the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport in Mumbai. (Reuters file photo)

According to airport operator- Mumbai International Airport Pvt Ltd. (MIAL), a total of 488,538 passengers — 669 passengers per day each way — traveled between Mumbai-Bangkok-Mumbai in financial year 2018-19. With 24 daily flights, on an average CSMIA will cater to 27 per cent of the total passenger traffic between Mumbai and the Southeast Asian countries.

“Catering to 48.8 million passengers, MIAL is seeing an increasing passenger traffic travelling to Southeast Asian countries like Singapore, Thailand, Bangkok, among other destinations. Fostering accessibility and profound connectivity to the Southeast Asian countries, the Mumbai airport will soon see an increase in the current flight frequency to Bangkok, and Singapore within the next one month,” read a statement from MIAL.

The airport operator is expecting expansion in the existing fleet strength of GoAir, IndiGo, Vistara and SpiceJet flights to the above countries in a bid to boost MICE travel - meetings, incentives, conferencing, exhibitions - and to also accelerate leisure tourism.

Providing more options to passengers, SpiceJet’s direct route between Mumbai to Hong Kong was launched on Wednesday. It is the fourth non-stop international route introduced in the last two months. RwandAir commenced their service from Mumbai to China’s trade capital Guangzhou from 18 June, followed by direct Air Tanzania flights from Mumbai to Dar Es Salaam from July 18. Passengers travelling from Mumbai to Muscat, Bangkok and Abu Dhabi are also connected by GoAir’s newest international route active from July 19.