Mumbai Airport’s 265-Slot Plan Triggers An Airline Standoff

Nearly one in three weekly international departures from Mumbai's Terminal 2 (T2) could be pulled from October 25, and the Civil Aviation Ministry has now stepped in after airlines pushed back.

Mumbai International Airport Ltd (MIAL), operated by Adani Airport Holdings, has proposed temporarily withdrawing 265 of 770 weekly international departure slots at T2, affecting 46 airlines.

The slots would move to Navi Mumbai International Airport (NMIA), about 50 km away, to make room for domestic flights displaced by the redevelopment of Terminal 1 (T1). The ministry has called a meeting with airlines on October 6, CNBC-TV18 reported.

A Transfer That Became A Cut

Airlines say MIAL's first communication spoke of moving existing international operations to Navi Mumbai. The latest plan, they say, instead pulls a third of international departures out of Mumbai altogether. An airline with 10 weekly international departures would lose about three.

MIAL says the move is temporary and that airlines may relocate operations at their discretion.

MIAL's transition plan, shared with airlines, reviewed by Mint, describes the proposal as a 33% reduction. The 265 slots work out to about 34.4% of the 770.

The document does not set out the capacity calculation behind the figure. The Airline Operators Committee-Mumbai (AOC) has asked for the current capacity of T1 and T2, the constraints that require the cut, details of the planned T2 enhancement and the demand-capacity analysis behind it.

Who Picks The Slots?

MIAL has asked airlines to name, by 4 pm on October 6, the international departure slots they want to shift or discontinue. Failing that, it has said it may choose the slots on operational and capacity considerations. They could be moved to Navi Mumbai or discontinued until a new terminal at Mumbai is ready.

The AOC has called this arbitrary. Airlines say their Winter 2026-27 schedules, which run from October to March, were approved in June 2026. Fleet deployments, routes, ticket sales and commercial commitments are already fixed, they say.

Consultation And The 2029 Timeline

Airlines back the redevelopment of T1 but say talks on it cannot be read as consent to a slot cut or relocation. The AOC wants detailed discussions on the technical basis, structural assessment, capacity impact, phasing and timelines.

MIAL disputes this. A release dated October 3 said "extensive consultations with airlines on the future of Terminal 1 have been ongoing since 2020". It added that the plan was presented to the Airports Economic and Regulatory Authority of India and built into the approved tariff framework. The International Air Transport Association (IATA) has sided with the airlines, calling for a transition based on operational readiness, stakeholder buy-in and regulatory oversight.

The AOC has also cited minutes of a September 2025 CSMIA Master Plan Project Phasing meeting. These indicated that T1 redevelopment would follow the start of operations at Navi Mumbai's Terminal 2, expected around 2029. The current plan brings restrictions forward to October 2026, with T1 work set to begin in January 2027.

MIAL has cited safety concerns at T1, which is about 60 years old. The first phase covers the north section of T1B, about one-third of T1's capacity. The operator says about 5 million of the airport's 55 million annual passengers, or 9%, will be temporarily affected, leaving 91% unaffected.

What Flyers May Face?

A flight moved to Navi Mumbai would require passengers to be informed and could alter connection times or itineraries.

The user development fee at Navi Mumbai is ₹1,225 for an international departing passenger, against ₹615 at Mumbai. Navi Mumbai plans a 100% waiver of landing fees on new international flights and cash vouchers for international passengers to offset the fee difference.