Mumbai Airport, Airlines Work Out Plan To Shift Traffic To Navi Mumbai

The Mumbai airport has asked airlines to work out plans to shift international traffic equivalent to five million passengers annually to Navi Mumbai International Airport, as it prepares to redevelop Terminal 1 at Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport (CSMIA).

In a meeting with the Airline Operators Committee (AOC) on Wednesday, the airport said IndiGo, Air India and Akasa Air have finalised plans to move international operations accounting for around three million passengers annually to Navi Mumbai. The operator has asked airlines to submit plans for the remaining traffic by November 3.

The airport operator (MIAL) has proposed shifting the remaining traffic from Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport's (CSMIA) Terminal 2 during the Northern Summer 2027 schedule to meet its target of temporarily moving traffic equivalent to 5 million passengers a year. The proposal comes amid a dispute over how flights should be redistributed between Mumbai's two airports to facilitate the redevelopment.

CSMIA currently handles around 55 million passengers annually. MIAL said the temporary shift would leave about 91 per cent of existing traffic unaffected, while redevelopment of Terminals 1 and 2 is expected to raise the airport's capacity to 65 million passengers a year.

The airport operator has cited structural audit reports by Structwel in 2017 and IIT Bombay in 2024 to underline the urgency of the Terminal 1 project, which it said has been delayed by more than nine years. MIAL also told airlines that the temporary traffic reduction had already been factored into the approved tariff order following stakeholder consultations.

MIAL has assured airlines that the international traffic temporarily moved to Navi Mumbai will return to CSMIA after Terminal 2 is expanded. However, the proposed shift of the remaining traffic will depend on airlines submitting their plans and the transition being worked out for the summer 2027 schedule.

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