The Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport (CSIA) in Mumbai has been conferred the "Aeronautical Excellence Airport of the Year" award at the 2008 Frost & Sullivan Asia Pacific Aerospace & Defence Awards. The award has been given in recognition of the exemplary effort made by Mumbai International Airport Pvt Ltd (MIAL) in developing the aeronautical segment of the airport from amongst a host of other airports in the APAC region.

GV Sanjay Reddy, managing director, Mumbai International Airport Pvt Ltd (MIAL), received the award in Singapore, at a ceremony attended by the creme de la crème of the aviation industry.

Speaking on the occasion, Reddy said "It is very gratifying to note that MIAL's efforts in modernizing CSIA in the airport aeronautical segment have been widely recognized by the industry at large, given the extremely challenging operating environment that we work in. This huge vote of confidence given to us by the industry serves to reiterate these challenges, some of which we have already met and others that we shall continue to meet by adequately maintaining and ensuring delivery of the highest standards of service at all times.

Kenneth Chan, consultant with the Asia Pacific, Aerospace & Defense Practice, Frost & Sullivan says "As India's busiest airport, Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport (CSIA) has demonstrated impressive administration in development and growth management. Laying the right foundations to produce bottom-line results from its aeronautical side, CSIA is progressively being transformed as one of the world's premier airports." 

According to Chan, "In less than two years, MIAL has successfully built and upgraded several aeronautical-side infrastructures to accommodate the high rise in aircraft movements as well as passenger and cargo traffic. As a testament to its management and development skills, CSIA is awarded Frost & Sullivan's Asia Pacific Aeronautical Excellence Airport of the Year Award."

The award consolidates the status of CSIA as the leading airport in India along with its competitive ranking in the Asia Pacific region.

While lauding CSIA's modernization efforts to meet the challenge of achieving excellence in the airport aeronautical segment, be it increase in aeronautical revenue generation and the upgrade of aeronautical related facilities to cater to increased passenger traffic, the award also recognizes its ability to perform exceedingly well and surpass all expectations.

This award was a result of extensive primary and secondary research carried out by Frost & Sullivan that included amongst others interviews with market participants and several end-user studies.

Some of the criteria used for measurement included aircraft movements, aircraft types supported, ground support services, adoption of technology, and the generation of aeronautical revenues.

The 2008 Frost & Sullivan Aeronautical Excellence Airport of the Year award is the first such industry-led award instituted this year recognizing an organization that is able to mould traditional practices (airport aeronautical revenue generation practices) to better serve airport aeronautical requirements in addition to generating above-average revenues. The recipient also needs to demonstrate innovative development efforts in continuously modernizing or upgrading airport facilities to ensure growth in the aeronautical segment of an airport.

CSIA is India's busiest airport and one of the busiest in the APAC region and is currently being upgraded to cater to 40 million passengers by 2012. At the end of 2007, MIAL recorded a total of 25.2 million passengers and 520,000 tonnes of cargo.