Airlines oppose any cuts in slots at Mumbai airport

Mumbai: Airlines operating at the Adani Group-controlled Mumbai airport opposed any unilateral reduction or cancellation of flight slots under a proposed traffic reallocation plan for summer 2027, according to letters seen by ET. They asked the airport operator to provide capacity data and details of Terminal 1's redevelopment plan before proceeding with the proposal.

The dispute centres on how the airport will accommodate airlines during the redevelopment of Terminal 1, and whether flight slots will need to be reduced or traffic shifted to manage capacity. At a meeting scheduled for October 28, airlines want Mumbai International Airport Ltd (MIAL), which operates the airport, to provide the actual capacity of the two terminals of the airport, details of the refurbishment timeline and an update on the planned capacity addition at Terminal 2, before decisions are made on the Summer 2027 transition plan.

In a letter on Friday, the Airport Operators Committee (AOC) in Mumbai reiterated that MIAL must comply with the Ministry of Civil Aviation's May 2013 slot-allocation guidelines and the International Air Transport Association's Worldwide Airport Slot Guidelines. Traffic reallocation must not be implemented unilaterally without compliance with the applicable procedures, it said.

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The AOC said no substantiated justification was provided for reducing or cancelling slots at the airport, claiming that Terminal 1 was currently handling less than 10 million passengers per annum (MPPA) and that there was an expected capacity addition of 5 MPPA at Terminal 2 by next March. "Any such proposal must be supported by verifiable capacity assessments, operational data and a clear, evidence-based justification," the committee said.

Terminal 1's current capacity is 15 million passengers and the airport operator plans to increase it to 20 million. MIAL earlier this week told airlines that they were free to shift some or all of their operations to the new airport in Navi Mumbai, suspend services until its Terminal 1 reopens in 2030, or pursue other options from summer 2027. The Navi Mumbai airport is also controlled by Adani Airports Holdings.

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Meanwhile, the MIAL chief airport officer's office on Friday sent a second reminder to airlines that had not yet held discussions with the airport operator on the transition plan. It asked them to arrange consultations with the airport's network-planning and commercial teams to help finalise the plan ahead of the October 28 stakeholder meeting. In its response, the AOC said airlines supported the T1 refurbishment "as a priority and without any further delay".