Adani’s Mumbai airport shift hits turbulence – Air France, Emirates refuse to give in

A 90-minute meeting between the Mumbai Airline Operators Committee (AOC) and MIAL on Wednesday was largely inconclusive, with foreign airlines seeking more details on the transition. MIAL remained firm on its target. (ANI)

After facing pushback from Indian airlines, it is now foreign airlines that are yet to agree to move their international operations from Mumbai airport’s Terminal 2 (T2) to Navi Mumbai International Airport (NMIA), leaving the Adani Group-owned Mumbai International Airport Limited (MIAL) short of its target with its November 3 deadline for transition plans days away.

MIAL wants to move five million annual passengers out of the existing airport by the end of March 2027 to make way for the redevelopment of Terminal 1B. Indian carriers Akasa Air, IndiGo and the Air India Group have already finalised plans to shift their international operations to NMIA, with the earliest moves scheduled from December 2026. Those shifts account for three million annual passengers, leaving MIAL two million short.

A 90-minute meeting between the Mumbai Airline Operators Committee (AOC) and MIAL on Wednesday was largely inconclusive, with foreign airlines seeking more details on the transition. MIAL remained firm on its target.

Emirates has argued that NMIA lacks the operational capacity to handle large-scale operations of global airlines. Air France-KLM has rejected the idea, deeming the splitting of operations between the two airports “operationally inefficient”.

The dispute began with MIAL’s proposal to cut international departures from T2 by 33 per cent, or 265 of the 770 weekly departures, to accommodate traffic displaced by the redevelopment of the northern section of Terminal 1B. The work was earlier scheduled to begin in January 2027. After the AOC opposed the proposal, the Ministry of Civil Aviation (MoCA) asked both sides to work towards a mutually agreed transition plan.

According to sources, MIAL told airlines on Wednesday that its plan to add five million passengers in annual capacity at T2 had been delayed by two years from its scheduled 2027 timeline. It also assured them that traffic temporarily shifted to NMIA would be restored to Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport (CSMIA) once the redevelopment of Terminal 1 is completed.

The AOC reiterated that the 2013 slot guidelines must be followed in any decision to reduce capacity at T2, and that such decisions should be taken collaboratively. It proposed a joint committee of airport authorities and airline representatives to draw up a transition plan for the winter 2027 schedule, which begins in late October, rather than shifting operations during the summer 2027 schedule, which begins in late March.

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MIAL also presented its vision for the redeveloped T1, including kerbside departure and arrival areas, a check-in hall, faster baggage claim and a departure holding area.