Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport is also known as Sahar International Airport. It is situated in Mumbai (formerly Bombay), India. The airport is established on an area of 1450 acres of land. That is why the Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport is regarded as `India`s biggest international and domestic aviation hub`. The main pupose of Mumbai city is served by the airport. In the beginning the airport was known as Sahar International Airport & Santacruz Domestic Airport. The airport was recently named after the 17th century Maratha Emperor, Chhatrapati Shivaji Raje Bhonsle.

It was during World War II, that the Mumbai based airfield was named the Royal Indian Air Force, Santacruz. This airfield was used as a defence airfield of the Royal Indian Air Force (RIAF). Soon after India earned independence, this airfield was intrusted to the Public Works Department, and afterwards to the Ministry of Civil Aviation, Government of India, in 1950. Initially it was named Santacruz Airport. After 1980, another international terminal was inaugurated in nearby Andheri. Still today, many remembers the domestic terminals 1-A and 1-B as Santacruz airport.

At present the Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport comprises the International Terminal (Terminal 2 aka Sahar) and the Domestic Terminal (Terminal 1 aka SantaCruz). Both the terminals use the same airside facilities. There are shuttle services available for connecting the domestic and international terminals. Terminal 1 is divided into Terminal 1-A and Terminal 1-B, where Terminal 1-A serves Indian Airlines, its subsidiary Alliance Air, Kingfisher Airlines, GoAir and Terminal 1-A serves Jet Airways, Jet Lite, SpiceJet, Deccan and other private domestic carriers.

The Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport has two cross runways designated 09/27 and 14/32. In the morning from 0530 to 0830, both runways function at the same time. This fascinating feature was activated from January 1, 2006. During this time, about 50 flights of smaller aircrafts take off daily from the 14/32. In the evening slot, the airport authority has targets to achieve 25 departures per hour. But there are some problems with the 14/32 runway, like-- (i) Mumbai`s debatable new control tower erected in 1996 and approximately 72 metres (236 ft) tall, gets through transitional obstacle limitation surfaces by over 50 meters (164 ft) for instrument approaches, and in excess of 40 meters (131 ft) for visuals. (ii) another problem that has arised is a hillock, Trombay Hill, that lies 4.5 NM (8.3 km) away from the 32 end. It is an approach that was also questioned by security agencies recently because the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC) nuclear complex at Trombay (Anushakti Nagar) lies within its flight path.

Apart from all these problems, the Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport is still considered as the busiest airport in India and South Asia. Very recently, Official Airline Guide (OAG) ranked the Mumbai-Delhi route as the `seventh busiest domestic route` in the world. It has been ranked on the basis of the number of flights per week. It is said that between the two airports this route has 50 flights daily in each direction. The Mumbai airport is also reckoned as the primary international gateway to the subcontinent. The airport caters 46 international airlines. Indian Airlines, Jet Airways, Jet Lite, GoAir, SpiceJet, IndiGo Airlines and Kingfisher Airlines touchdown by the airport. Peak international traffic takes place during night time while peak domestic traffic is before 10:00. However, at least 45% of traffic flows between 10:00 and 18:30 daily. According to a statistical report, Mumbai airport handled 180,000 landings and takeoffs and over 20 million passengers, with a total of 13.56 million domestic air passengers and 6.73 million international passengers between April 2006-February 2007. This report portrays a growth in passenger traffic from the previous year 2005-06, when it was 17.6 million passengers.

Air India (Ahmedabad, Aurangabad, Bangalore, Bhopal, Bhubaneshwar, Chandigarh, Chennai, Coimbatore, Delhi, Goa, Hyderabad, Indore, Jaipur, Jamnagar, Jodhpur, Kochi, Kolkata, Kozhikode, Madurai,Mangalore, Nagpur, Patna, Pune, Raipur, Ranchi, Srinagar, Thiruvananthapuram,Udaipur, Vadodara, Varanasi, Visakhapatnam); GoAir (Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Bhopal, Chennai, Coimbatore, Delhi, Goa, Indore, Hyderabad, Jaipur, Jammu, Kochi, Srinagar); Kingfisher Airlines (Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Bhuj, Bhopal, Chennai, Delhi, Goa,Guwahati, Hubli, Hyderabad, Indore, Jaipur, Kochi, Kolkata, Mangalore, Nagpur, Srinagar, Varanasi) are the domestic airlines that takes-off and lands at Terminal 1-A. Jet Lite (Ahmedabad, Chennai, Delhi, Goa, Guwahati, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Lucknow, Tarukha Patna, Varanasi, Visakhapatnam); Deccan (Ahmedabad, Aurangabad, Bhavnagar, Chennai, Coimbatore, Delhi, Goa, Hyderabad, Jamnagar, Kochi, Kolkata, Mangalore, Nagpur, Raipur, Rajkot, Thiruvananthapuram, Vadodara, Visakhapatnam); Jet Airways (Ahmedabad, Aurangabad, Bangalore, Bhavnagar, Bhuj, Chennai, Coimbatore, Delhi, Goa, Guwahati, Hyderabad, Imphal, Indore, Jaipur, Jodhpur, Kochi, Kolkata, Kozhikode, Mangalore, Nagpur, Pune, Raipur, Rajkot, Thiruvananthapuram,Udaipur, Vadodara); IndiGo Airlines ( Agartala, Bangalore, Chennai, Guwahati, Goa, Hyderebad, Imphal, Jaipur, Kochi, Kolkata, New Delhi, Nagpur, Pune, Vadodara); SpiceJet (Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Chennai, Kolkata, Coimbatore, Delhi, Goa, Hyderabad) also serves the domestic purpose from Terminal 1-B.

Air Arabia (Sharjah); All Nippon Airways (Tokyo-Narita); Alitalia (Milan-Malpensa) [Ends March 2008]; Austrian Airlines (Vienna); British Airways (London-Heathrow); Cathay Pacific (Bangkok-Suvarnabhumi, Dubai, Hong Kong); China Eastern Airlines (Shanghai-Pudong); Delta Air Lines (Atlanta, New York-JFK); Druk Air (Paro); El Al (Tel Aviv); Etihad Airways (Abu Dhabi); Finnair (Helsinki); Gulf Air (Bahrain, Muscat); Iran Air (Tehran-Imam Khomeini); Jazeera Airways (Dubai, Kuwait); Jet Airways (Bahrain, Brussels, Doha, Johannesburg [begins April 2008], London-Heathrow, Milan-Malpensa[begins 2008], Newark, San Francisco [begins February 2008], Singapore, Shanghai-Pudong [begins February 2008], Zurich[begins 2008]; Kenya Airways (Nairobi); Kuwait Airways (Kuwait); Lufthansa (Frankfurt); Northwest Airlines (Amsterdam, Seattle/Tacoma); Oman Air (Muscat); Pakistan International Airlines (Karachi); Qantas (Sydney); Qatar Airways (Doha); Saudi Arabian Airlines (Dammam, Jeddah, Medina, Riyadh); SriLankan Airlines (Colombo, Karachi); Swiss International Air Lines (Zurich); Syrian Arab Airlines (Abu Dhabi, Damascus); Virgin Atlantic Airways (London-Heathrow) are the international airlines that cater to the Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport from Terminal 2-A (international).

Aeroflot (Moscow-Sheremetyevo); Air France (Paris-Charles de Gaulle); Air India (Ahmedabad, Amritsar, Bahrain, Bangalore, Bangkok-Suvarnabhumi, Birmingham, Chennai, Chicago-O`Hare, Dammam, Dar-es-Salaam, Delhi, Dhaka, Doha, Dubai, Frankfurt, Fujairah, Goa, Hong Kong, Hyderabad, Jakarta, Jeddah, Kochi, Kolkata, Kuala Lumpur, Kuwait, London-Heathrow, Los Angeles, Muscat, Male(starts soon), Nairobi, New York-JFK, Newark, Osaka-Kansai, Paris-Charles de Gaulle, Port Louis, Riyadh, Salalah, Seoul-Incheon, Shanghai Pudong, Singapore, Tokyo-Narita, Toronto-Pearson, Vancouver (starts early 2008), Vienna, Zurich); Air Mauritius (Port Louis); Continental Airlines (Newark); EgyptAir (Cairo, Kuala Lumpur); Emirates Airline (Dubai); EVA Air (Taipei-Taiwan Taoyuan); Ethiopian Airlines (Addis Ababa); Korean Air (Seoul-Incheon); Malaysia Airlines (Kuala Lumpur); Singapore Airlines (Singapore); South African Airways (Johannesburg); Syrian Arab Airlines (Damascus); Thai Airways International (Bangkok-Suvarnabhumi); Turkish Airlines (Istanbul); Yemenia (Aden, Sanaa) are the airlines operating from Terminal 2-C (international).

The Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport serves plentiful cargo airlines like-- Air France Cargo; Air India Cargo; Alitalia Cargo; Blue Dart; British Airways World Cargo; Cargo Italia; Cathay Pacific Airways Cargo (Hong Kong); DHL Air; FedEx; Emirates SkyCargo; Etihad Crystal Cargo; Ethiopian Airlines; EVA Air Cargo; Gemini Air Cargo; Great Wall Airlines; Korean Air Cargo; Lufthansa Cargo; Shanghai Airlines Cargo; Singapore Airlines Cargo; SriLankan Airlines Cargo; United Parcel Service; World Airways Cargo. Many other international airlines are also planning to venture in the Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport.

The Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport has massive plans of upgradation. To serve this purpose, the airport authority has appointed Mumbai International Airport Ltd (MIAL), a syndicate of GVK Industries Ltd. and Airports Company of South Africa (ACSA). In the beginning they attempted to improvise the areas of passenger convenience like kerbside, terminal entrances and improved cleanliness. They also took initiatives in improvising the communication amongst employees through training. Additional check-in counters; cleaner toilets; better housekeeping; improved signages; more F&B options; better kerbside management; aesthetic changes and smoother traffic flow are the other initiatives that they have taken to carry out modernisation of the Mumbai Airport.

The Mumbai International Airport Ltd (MIAL) in 2006, had proposed a masterplan to upgrade the Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport. They had planned to expand and upgrade the infrastructure of the Airport with the aim of catering 40 million passengers per year and one million metric tonnes of cargo per year by 2010. They had also proposed to merge the international and domestic terminals into one terminal building, which would take place at the current international building and the current domestic terminal would be changed to a cargo terminal. They have designed the plan in such a way that will be completed by 2008 and 2010.

Interim Phase (will be completed by 2008):

Offset of renovation and construction at Terminal 2

Restore of Terminal 1A to upgrade and elaborate facilities such as check-in counters and boarding bridges

Setting-up of temporary cargo facilities to add capacity

Upgrading of the airside runway facilities such as rapid exit taxiways to increase runway capacity to cater to traffic growth

Enhancing city-side facilities such as multi-level car parks

Phase One (to be completed by 2010)

Creation of a brand new terminal building (T2) at Sahar catering to both international and domestic passengers

Construction of a dedicated link from the Western Express Highway to T2 at Sahar

Enhancement of the airside facilities by shifting the Air Traffic Control tower and construction of a parallel taxiway

Development of infrastructure on the city-side

Building new cargo facilities

construction of Terminal 1C

Mumbai International Airport (MIAL) has also begun with vigour a free wireless network, to provide enterprise-class wi-fi service throughout domestic and international terminals in association with Bharti Airtel. This facility will also provide the passengers with internet for free. The Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport is well connected with ground transportation in Mumbai city like, Pre-paid taxicabs; Meter taxis; Cool Cabs; Auto rickshaws; Mumbai Suburban Railway; Brihanmumbai Electric Supply and Transport (Public transport buses); Private cars for rent; Proposed link on the Mumbai Metro.
Mumbai International Airport (MIAL) has explicated and launched a visual identity for Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport. The new identity is deduced from the shape of a peacock feather into which the acronym `CSIA` is woven smoothly. It however captivates three essential attributes: Pride in India, People and Service and Global Standards. For the first time in India, an airport has been given an identity of its own.