With India's busiest airport, the Mumbai airport, almost reaching its peak capacity-level, some restrictions on movement of private aircraft might be called for, civil aviation minister Praful Patel said today.
Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel said, �The time has come to curb private services (non-scheduled services) at the Mumbai Airport as it is reaching its capacity. If such a move was not made, the airport will not be in a position to offer new flight services. In such a scenario, it (the airport) will have to make do with the number of flights it operates today.�

Mumbai Airport, which is being modernised and developed by Mumbai International Airport Limited (MIAL), now handles 630 arrivals and departures a day. Though the government has approved the construction of a second airport in Navi Mumbai, the project has been caught in a tug-of-war between the Ministry of Forest and Environment (MoFE) and Ministry of Civil Aviation (MoCA). MoFE headed by Jairam Ramesh has taken the position that the proposed airport site poses a threat to ecology, while holding back the environment clearance to the project.