Airfares from Mumbai may drop as T2 could handle giant A380

Air passengers from Mumbai currently pay more for tickets than flyers from other Indian cities—particularly in peak travel season—due to a mismatch in demand and supply

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Flyers from Mumbai are set to get some relief because of the higher passenger handling capacity of the soon-to-open Terminal 2 and the government's decision to let A380 flights land in the city.

Air passengers from Mumbai currently pay more for tickets than flyers from other Indian cities—particularly in peak travel season—due to a mismatch in demand and supply. While Mumbai's need for flights has been growing, the airport's capacity to handle flights has remained limited due to infrastructure constraints. This imbalance, by all estimates, will worsen with each passing year. Not surprisingly then, any increase in flights or seats operated by airlines into and out of Mumbai is bound to benefit passenger.

"The new T2 is equipped to handle A380s, which is a larger aircraft. The per-passenger cost for an A380 is among the lowest in the industry. With more seats being available and cost of operations being lower, airfares will drop—though it will finally depend on the A380s routes and some other factors," said Ankur Bhatia of Bird Group.

Mumbai airport is reportedly set to be the first in the country to handle the giant A380.

An airport's capacity is decided by two factors: the capacity of its runways (how many flights can land or take off in an hour) and the capacity of its terminal buildings (which decides the passenger handling capacity). At present, Mumbai airport's passenger handling capacity is about 35 million, but it will to surge to 40 million with T2.

This considerable rise will not be because of any major changes in the runways. The airport has a set of cross runways and cannot get a parallel runway, which could greatly increase flight handling capacity, because of land constraints. This is where the A380s come in.

"Since Mumbai airport has restricted flight movements, it is better to have larger aircraft like A380," said Bhatia. An A380 affords a seating capacity of 525 in a three-class configuration and 850 in an all economy-class configuration. It is currently the largest aircraft operational in the commercial airline industry.

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