No reduction in internationally allocated flight slots is planned at Mumbai airport across the winter timetable period — spanning from late October through to the close of March — according to a statement from the facility's management company.
Passengers holding reservations on international routes through Mumbai airport are not expected to have their journeys scrapped or rerouted to Navi Mumbai during the coming winter season.
The dispute was brought to an end by the ruling, which had arisen after the Mumbai airport operator put forward a plan cutting roughly a third of international departures from Terminal 2 across the winter timetable. That proposal had been driven by the need to absorb domestic routes displaced by Terminal 1 redevelopment, construction on which had been scheduled to begin around mid-January.
Carriers have indicated their readiness to back the T1 redevelopment at Mumbai International Airport Ltd, with a phased redistribution of passenger traffic pencilled in to take effect from the summer schedule. Spanning roughly from 27 March through to 31 October the following year, the summer flight schedule means that certain international services due to operate into or out of Mumbai airport across that window may be redirected to Navi Mumbai airport or removed from the timetable altogether.
Talks between Mumbai airport's airline operators' committee (AOC) and Adani Airport Holdings Ltd (AAHL) — the body that runs both Mumbai and Navi Mumbai airports — produced an agreement to leave winter flight schedules undisturbed.
A MIAL spokesperson conveyed that AAHL's director Jeet Adani and its chief executive Arun Bansal had each pledged to the airline community that previously established slot allocations would be honoured without interference, with the pair going further to formally commit that no slots would be touched ahead of the winter schedule.
A joint working group formed under MIAL's direction is expected to spend roughly a fortnight producing a redevelopment blueprint for Terminal 1 — a facility that processes around 15 million domestic travellers annually and has long been in need of modernisation. On the question of possible load-spreading across the summer timetable, MIAL indicated that any carrier looking to move its operations to Navi Mumbai airport would receive the body's full backing.
A follow-up session is scheduled for 28 October, with each carrier's network and slot teams expected to hold separate consultations in the intervening period. Revised demolition timelines for T1 — whether phased or otherwise — had yet to be announced.
A gathering between the parties took place after the Ministry of Civil Aviation stepped in on 3 October. A letter from MIAL to airlines, dated 1 October, put forward a plan to suspend 265 of the 770 international departure slots scheduled each week, with the reduction taking effect from 25 October on a temporary basis — and that proposal set off the dispute.
Under the plan, around 38 outbound international departures daily stood to be eliminated, with its reach extending across 46 carriers — a mix of home-based and foreign-registered airlines.
