NEW DELHI: Adani Airport has pushed back by at least five months its plan to shift a third of international flights from Mumbai’s existing airport to its new facility in Navi Mumbai, 50 km away, after airlines resisted the proposed changes to international departure slots.
The revised timeline puts the January 2027 start of theredevelopment at risk of a delay of at least three months, as the operator works to secure airlines’ agreement on relocating flights and balancing traffic between the two airports.
The proposed shift from Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport (CSMIA) to Navi Mumbai International Airport (NMIA), both operated by Adani, had met resistance from airlines over a plan to temporarily discontinue 265 of the 770 weekly international departure slots at Terminal 2 from 25 October. In all, 46 airlines were affected.
“Airlines will not be asked to shift operations during the winter schedule. A transition plan will be worked out in agreement with the airlines,” said a person present at a meeting on Tuesday convened to resolve the standoff between the airport operator and.
The winter schedule runs from 25 October to 27 March, while the summer schedule begins in late March and runs until October.
In a statement issued late Tuesday, a Mumbai airport spokesperson said Jeet Adani, director, airports, at Adani Airport Holdings Ltd (AAHL), and Arun Bansal, chief executive, AAHL, had assured airlines that historical slot allocations would be respected and that “no slots would be disturbed during the winter schedule”.
The statement also said airlines had committed to supporting the redevelopment and that traffic balancing would begin with the summer schedule. A joint working group will develop an implementation plan for the ageing Terminal 1 infrastructure over the next two weeks.
A dispute over slots
Mumbai International Airport Ltd (MIAL), a joint venture between AAHL and the Airports Authority of India (AAI), had asked the 46 airlines to identify international departure slots they would be willing to temporarily discontinue. The deadline was set for 4 pm on 6 October.
The civil ministry intervened, pausing the proposed reduction and directing the airport operator to work out a transition plan with all stakeholders. Tuesday’s meeting followed that intervention, resulting in an agreement to leave winter schedules unchanged while working towards traffic balancing from the summer schedule.
MIAL also said it had offered full support to any airline seeking to shift operations to NMIA. The two sides agreed to meet again on 28 October and, until then, engage with each airline’s network and slot teams.
Airlines have backed the redevelopment but challenged the proposed reduction in international departure slots. Airline Operators Committee (AOC)-Mumbai sought technical assessments and detailed explanations of the capacity constraints necessitating the move. Carriers argued that support for infrastructure upgrades should not be interpreted as acceptance of changes to international slots already planned for the winter schedule.
Adani Airport had maintained that the shift was temporary and necessary to facilitate the redevelopment. The operator had said around 91% of passenger traffic would remain unaffected, while approximately 5 million passengers, or 9% of annual traffic, would be temporarily affected. Mumbai airport handled about 38 million domestic and more than 16 million international passengers in fisal year 2026 (FY26).
To encourage airlines to move operations to NMIA, the operator had offered concessions, including landing-fee waivers for new international flights and cash vouchers to offset the difference in user development fees between the two airports. Airlines, however, maintained that the incentives did not address their central concern: the proposed reduction in international departure slots.
Construction timetable
The delay complicates the sequencing of the redevelopment. MIAL had planned to begin rebuilding Terminal 1B in January 2027. Under the original proposal, domestic flights from Terminal 1 would move to Terminal 2, while some international operations would shift to NMIA.
The transition would require airlines to adjust aircraft rotations, crew deployment, ground-handling arrangements and passenger connections. The distance between the airports adds another complication for travellers, particularly those connecting between domestic and international flights.
“Any extension provides additional time to resolve concerns raised by airlines, but the revised schedule leaves the airport operator with the task of aligning the relocation of flights with the construction timetable,” said Amit Mittal, director at consultancy firm AeroIntellect.
“The redevelopment will require coordination between MIAL, airlines, ground handlers and government authorities to minimise disruption at an airport that remains a critical hub for domestic and international travel,” he added.
The immediate priority is to finalize a transition plan acceptable to airlines and secure the necessary approvals before the relocation and redevelopment proceed. The joint working group is expected to draw up the implementation plan over the next two weeks, ahead of the next meeting on 28 October.