Adani asked to defer Mumbai airport's international flight shift to Navi Mumbai

New Delhi: The civil aviation ministry has asked Adani Airport Holdings (AAHL) to defer a planned transfer of more than a third of Mumbai airport's international departures to the new Navi Mumbai airport, said people in the know.

The ministry also directed Adani to submit a fresh roadmap for the redevelopment of Mumbai Airport's Terminal 1 following concerns raised by airlines over operational disruptions and commercial losses, the people said.

Also read: Adani Airports vs airlines: Why Mumbai-Navi Mumbai flight shift has triggered a standoff | ET Explainer

Mumbai airport authorities will meet airlines on October 13 to finalise a plan with consensus from all stakeholders and subsequently submit it to the ministry for approval, said the people cited above. Government officials told Adani to revisit the transition plan before withdrawing any international slots from Mumbai.

MIAL, the Adani-controlled operator of Mumbai airport, had proposed temporarily withdrawing 265 of the 770 weekly international departure slots from Terminal 2 with effect from October 25. The step is aimed at creating capacity at T2 for domestic flights displaced by the phased redevelopment of Terminal 1.

The government's decision effectively puts the October 25 transition plan on hold while stakeholders work on an alternative roadmap. The immediate focus will be on whether additional capacity can be created at Mumbai, whether the airport redevelopment can be executed differently, and how much international traffic can be shifted to Navi Mumbai without disrupting airlines and passengers.

MIAL had asked airlines to identify by October 6 the international services they were willing to temporarily discontinue or shift to Navi Mumbai. It also indicated that in the absence of airline responses, it could determine the slots to be withdrawn based on operational requirements and planning assumptions.

Airlines had opposed the proposed transition, questioning both the basis for reducing international operations in Mumbai and the short timeline for implementing the change.

The Airline Operators Committee has sought records of consultations on the T1 redevelopment since 2020 and an explanation for the decision to cut international flights by a third.

Airlines also contend that their winter schedules have already been planned and sold, making a large-scale change in October operationally difficult.