Mumbai Airport News
Airlines flying from Mumbai airport have asked the civil aviation ministry to step in over a plan to reduce the airport’s capacity from next April. They want the government to stop the airport operator from giving their existing flight slots to the new Navi Mumbai International Airport (NMIA).
The request comes from the Airline Operators Committee-Mumbai (AOC). It represents 46 of the 47 airlines that operate at Mumbai airport. The committee sent an email on November 2 to civil aviation secretary Samir Kumar Sinha.
Mumbai International Airport Ltd (MIAL) runs the main airport. It plans to close Terminal 1 for redevelopment from April. It also wants to move 265 of Terminal 2’s 770 weekly international departure slots to Navi Mumbai, which is about 50 km away. This would cut the main airport’s yearly passenger capacity by 5 million.
Adani Airport Holdings runs both airports and is a partner in MIAL with the Airports Authority of India.
In its email, the AOC said MIAL told airlines about the capacity cut at a meeting on October 28. The committee called it a “unilateral decision” made without proper reasons or clear information about how much capacity is actually available at the main airport.
The airlines have made these requests:
- The ministry should direct MIAL and the airport’s slot coordinator to approve the historical slots that airlines asked for in their first submissions for the summer 2027 schedule.
- This should be done before November 5, the deadline for the Slot Allocation List.
- No historical slots should be denied, reduced, cancelled or given to others without due process, and the rules of the ministry and the airline association IATA should be followed.
A slot is a fixed time when an airline can take off or land. Historical slots are those an airline has used regularly in the past, and airlines usually expect to keep them.
Some airlines have agreed to shift part of their international flights. IndiGo, Air India Express and Akasa Air are among them. But foreign airlines, including Emirates and Air France-KLM, have asked for time until October 2027 to split their operations. They have raised concerns about the facilities at Navi Mumbai and about passenger demand there.
Ajeet Yadav is an aviation enthusiast covering airline news, airports, aircraft, and industry developments through well-researched and reliable reporting.
