A new world record for single-runway operations has been set on January 20, by the Mumbai Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International airport.

Well known as the busiest single-runway aerodrome in the world, the Mumbai airport set the world record, by handling 980 flights on single-runway operations, in other words, the airport handled one flight per minute. With this,the airport bettered its own feat of 974 flights in 24 hours, recorded on December 6, 2017.

Despite this record, United Kingdoms Gatwick airport in London whom announced the capacity of handling 870 flights in a day, remains the most proficient airport in the world.While the Mumbai airport works 24 hours each day, Gatwick airport functions for only 19 hours after regulatory authorities imposed restrictions on flights post-midnight in 1971. 

However many experts reveal that the comparison between the two airports cannot be justified. Mumbai airport is struggling with the acute shortage of space, London is served by four airports- Heathrow, Gatwick, Stansted and Luton. While Heathrow has two functional runways, Gatwick, Stansted and Luton operates with single runways.

"The most important difference between Gatwick and Mumbai is the environment the two airports are set in," The Times of India quoted a senior air traffic controller from Mumbai as saying.

"Mumbai airport functions in a space-starved, infrastructure-constrained environment, unlike any other. More flights can't be added onto Mumbai's single runway without a holistic approach that takes into account the ground realities, India's regulatory framework, human factors etc."

The spokesmen also added that the shortage of space is perceived most when airport struggle with any emergency. In a similar situation, many flights were sent to Bengaluru and Hyderabad after Spice Jet aircraft overshot the main runway forcing its closure. 

"Last September, when a Spice Jet aircraft overshot the main runway forcing its closure, most of the wide-bodied aircraft operating long haul international flights were forced to divert to Hyderabad and Bangalore, where a dearth of aircraft parking bays posed a problem," he added.

Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport, formerly known as Sahar International Airport, is the primary international airport serving the Mumbai Metropolitan Area, India. The airport is named after the 17th-century Maratha emperor, Chhatrapati Shivaji. It was re-renamed Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport, adding "Maharaj" to the name, by the Government of Maharashtra on 8 December 2016.

Situated across the suburbs of Santacruz, Vile Parle and Sahar village in Andheri, It is the second busiest airport in the country in terms of total and international passenger traffic after Delhi, and was the 14th busiest airport in Asia and 29th busiest airport in the world by passenger traffic in calendar year 2016 handling over 44.68 million passengers.