Mumbai airport withdraws transfer of 150 take-off/landing slots to upcoming Navi Mumbai airport, BA

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In a major win for airlines operating out of Mumbai, the airport operator has decided not to transfer 150 take-off/landing slots from Mumbai airport to the upcoming Navi Mumbai airport, a decision that was supposed to be effected around the end of October this year.

The airport also withdrew its earlier decision to ban freighter aircraft operations at Mumbai airport from 16 August.
The two decisions were taken following discussions between airlines, Mumbai International Airport Ltd (MIAL), and other stakeholders in the first slot committee meeting held recently. “Both the decisions were unanimously agreed upon by all stakeholders,” said a source.

Last month, the Mumbai airport informed airlines that a percentage of their slots would be temporarily moved to the upcoming Navi Mumbai airport in October, the start of the winter schedule. This was to facilitate the demolition and reconstruction of Terminal 1 of the Mumbai airport. That would have meant airlines, both domestic and international, would have to move some of their flights to Navi Mumbai airport for the winter schedule, which runs from October to the end of March.

The airlines’ trade body, the International Air Transport Association (IATA), called the two decisions unilateral and sought govt intervention. In a statement issued last month, John Middleton, IATA’s Head for Worldwide Airport Slots, conveyed surprise and deep disappointment at Mumbai airport’s “seemingly permanent withdrawal of historic slots for passenger airlines” beginning next season. “This is not what one would expect of a major hub airport in India, and will cause long-lasting damage to the airport’s reputation and credibility,” he said, adding that MIAL gave no details on how it would manage the capacity reduction and mitigate the impact.

IATA had expressed serious concerns about the unilateral nature of this decision and its potential implications for Mumbai’s air connectivity. “We hope Adani Airports, as the operator of the two-airport system in Mumbai, is not using this situation to pressure airlines to move their operations to their upcoming Navi Mumbai Airport,” Middleton has said.

The association called for the immediate withdrawal of the proposed cuts and urged MIAL to engage in meaningful consultations with the airline industry. IATA had also recommended several measures, including delaying capacity reduction to October 2025, forming a coordination committee, and developing clear guidelines for the fair distribution of capacity reductions.