Mumbai Airport Lets Airlines Keep Winter Slots, Delaying Navi Mumbai
Adani Airport Holdings postpones shifting international flights from Terminal 2 to Navi Mumbai until the March 2027 summer schedule.
Stock photo for illustration only, not from the actual event
- Adani Airport Holdings postpones moving international flights from Mumbai airport to Navi Mumbai
- Airlines will keep their winter schedules intact until the summer timetable in March 2027
- The original plan aimed to cut 265 out of 770 weekly international departure slots from October 25
- Both sides will form a joint working group to draft a Terminal 1 implementation plan within two weeks
Airlines operating out of Mumbai will retain their winter slots unchanged after Adani Airport Holdings agreed to postpone the proposed shift of international services from Terminal 2 to Navi Mumbai until the summer schedule commencing in March 2027.
This decision follows a meeting held on Tuesday with airline representatives, temporarily defusing a dispute over the operator's strategy to clear space at Terminal 2 for domestic flights displaced by the ongoing Terminal 1 reconstruction work.
Previously, the airport operator had informed carriers it would strip 265 of Terminal 2's 770 weekly international departure slots starting October 25. This cut would have impacted 46 airlines, resulting in IndiGo losing 74 weekly departures and Air India forfeiting 33.
Stock photo for illustration only, not from the actual event
Carriers strongly objected because regulators had already approved the winter schedule back in June, meaning airlines had already assigned aircraft, scheduled crews, and sold tickets. IATA criticized the move as a forced relocation, stating that any transition to a secondary airport must be driven by carrier choice and market conditions, while Air France-KLM maintained that splitting operations in Mumbai was not a viable option.
This temporary reprieve highlights the operational and logistical hurdles of launching new aviation hubs in India. Although Navi Mumbai opened in December 2025, it currently operates only a single international route to Abu Dhabi via Air India Express, and direct Metro connectivity to Mumbai airport is not anticipated until 2031, underlining why immediate large-scale relocations face severe resistance.
Following Tuesday's discussions with the Airline Operators Committee, Jeet Adani, Director of Adani Airport Holdings, and CEO Arun Bansal assured carriers that winter slots would remain untouched. Both parties agreed to establish a joint working group to formulate a Terminal 1 implementation plan within two weeks, with traffic balancing between the two airports postponed to the summer schedule.
Nonetheless, this relief is strictly temporary as Adani emphasizes that the Terminal 1B reconstruction cannot be deferred indefinitely, and Navi Mumbai continues to operate with limited international connectivity.
Source: Skift
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