Gulf carriers take on Adani over Mumbai capacity cut, warn of Hajj disruption

Major Gulf carriers, including Gulf Air and Saudia, warn of severe Hajj and Umrah pilgrimage flight disruptions and have threatened reciprocal international sanctions against Indian airlines.

New Delhi: Gulf Air and Saudia are both opposing Adani Airport Holdings' proposal to reduce capacity at Mumbai and shift a significant portion of the international operations to Navi Mumbai. The proposal has sparked a fight that could well, in the end, involve the regulators, the diplomats, and the various governments concerned.

The Navi Mumbai airport is located 50 km away from Mumbai airport.

At the core of the dispute are the long-standing flight slots. Both airlines are adamant that Adani has no right to unilaterally scrap the historic slot allocations and warn that they may take their case to the civil aviation authorities in India, Bahrain and Saudi Arabia. Gulf Air has suggested the prospect of countermeasures, which would mean that Indian carriers could, in turn, be squeezed on slots abroad under the various bilateral air service agreements.

Saudia has added further fuel to the fire over the timing of the proposed slot reductions, with a sudden cutback posing a real threat to the annual Hajj and the year-round Umrah pilgrimage traffic. Mumbai is one of India’s key departure points for Muslims heading to Mecca, with some 26,000 pilgrims going overseas from there last year alone.

Adani say the capacity reductions are simply a necessary operational headache to deal with the severe congestion in Mumbai and to route traffic to the new Navi Mumbai airport in the run-up to the major redevelopment of the terminals. With neither side willing to back down, the impasse could disrupt international flight schedules, put pressure on diplomatic aviation relations, and make the long-anticipated move to a dual-airport city far more fraught.

MIAL is a joint venture between Adani Airport and Airports Authority of India (AAI).

Saudia links to Hajj

“MIAL cannot unilaterally reduce airport capacity, disregard established historical slot entitlements, or compel Gulf Air to surrender its existing operational positions based on a redevelopment plan,” Gulf Air said in an email last week.

“In the absence of a satisfactory reply, Gulf Air will escalate the matter formally to the Ministry of Civil Aviation, the DGCA, and the Bahrain Civil Aviation Affairs, and will raise it with IATA, including consideration of reciprocal measures under the applicable bilateral air services arrangements,” the email further said.

Gulf Air flies twice daily from Mumbai. It says the decision would effectively push its entire international operation out of Terminal 2 at the current Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport. For this reason, it has asked MIAL to share a copy of any approval from the Ministry of Civil Aviation (MoCA) for the capacity cut; the criteria used to decide which airlines and slots are affected; and an explanation of why a further reduction is needed.

Saudia also challenged the cut process, reasoning, and transparency.

“More importantly, the decision has direct implications for Hajj and Umrah operations from India. As the national carrier of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Saudia plays a significant role in facilitating pilgrim movement between India and the Kingdom,” Saudia said in a separate email to Mumbai airport last week.

The timing is important.

According to the Haj Committee of India’s guidelines, India’s 2027 Hajj charter flights are planned from 8 April to 9 May. The country’s proposed pilgrim count is 175,025. Umrah, unlike Hajj, happens year-round.

Mumbai accounted for nearly 15% of India’s 175,000 Hajj pilgrims in 2026, or more than 26,000 people, according to government data.

Retaliation risk

MIAL wants to reduce Mumbai airport’s official capacity by five million passengers per year (MPPA) for the summer 2027 (S27) schedule, starting in April 2027. It says this is because of redevelopment and capacity limits.

Adani has suggested that 12 airlines move their operations to Navi Mumbai International Airport, which it also runs, about 50 km from the city’s main airport. Eleven of these 12 are from the Gulf and West Asia.

If the standoff remains unresolved, the Gulf carriers could approach their respective governments, and reciprocal measures affecting Indian carriers flying to these countries pose a risk, said Aslam Allugundu, a Dubai-based aviation advisor who has held leadership roles at Emirates, Qatar Airways and Bangalore International Airport.

"Ideally, the airport operator should resolve slot or capacity issues amicably with the airlines concerned, through the Airline Operators Committee. Where that doesn't happen, the Ministry has to step in, as it already has once," he said.

"Air services agreements are country to country, and typically specify the capacity and the cities that airlines can serve. Whether Navi Mumbai is treated as Mumbai under each agreement is a question that needs clarity. If an agreement is specific to the airport, some carriers may not be able to shift at all," he added.

How the dispute unfolded

The dispute started in October. MIAL suggested temporarily stopping 265 of the 770 weekly international departure slots at Terminal 2 from 25 October to allow for Terminal 1 redevelopment.

Airlines opposed the move, saying that shifting to Navi Mumbai would disrupt schedules and passenger connections. MoCA then intervened, giving the airport operator and airlines more time to find a solution.

The affected carriers are Saudia, Qatar Airways, Kuwait Airways, Oman Air, Gulf Air, Air Arabia, Flynas, Flyadeal, Riyadh Air, Jazeera Airways, SalamAir and Nepal Airlines.

Together, the 12 airlines run 16 daily flights, or 112 a week, from Mumbai to 14 destinations. That is 15% of the airport’s weekly international operations. Another 38 foreign airlines will continue to operate as scheduled.

Three Indian airlines—IndiGo, Air India Express and Akasa - are shifting part of their international ops to Navi Mumbai.

Key Takeaways

• Gulf Air, Saudia threaten regulatory, diplomatic escalation over Mumbai airport’s relocation plan.
• Saudia says reduced slots could hurt Hajj and Umrah capacity from India.
• India’s 2027 Hajj charter flights planned from 8 April to 9 May.
• Mumbai accounted for nearly 15% of India’s 2026 Hajj pilgrims, over 26,000.

About the Author

Abhishek Law has spent 18 years in journalism, which in news industry terms means he has survived several newsroom restructurings, countless “urgent” press releases, and more cups of tea than he can reasonably count. Based in New Delhi, he covers aviation for Mint, a sector where aircraft, oil prices, geopolitics and airline CEOs regularly conspire to make his life interesting.<br><br>Most of his time gets occupied by translating airline jargon like ASKs, yields, load factors and fleet strategies into language that doesn’t require a pilot’s licence. His motto is simple: if readers need a glossary, he hasn’t done his job properly.<br><br>On most days, the quadragenarian is tracking airline strategies, policy changes and the occasional mid-air disruption that suddenly become a stock market story. When planes are behaving themselves (which is not very often nowadays), he strays into other corporate beats like steel, trying to figure out what’s really happening.<br><br>He loves to talk, especially ask—that one more question which people are uncomfortable with, and saving contacts in his phone as a "Source who may or may not pick up calls”. <br><br>But, on a serious note, the goal remains simple: cut through jargon, find that additional detail, and turn complicated business stories into something one can actually enjoy reading.