NEW DELHI: In a major relief for airlines operating at Terminal 1 of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport in Mumbai, the deadline to shift their international operations from here has now been extended by the airport operator until the end of March next year.
This follows meetings held by the top management of Adani Airport Holdings Ltd (AAHL) with the Airline Operations Committee on Tuesday.
An official release from Mumbai International Airport Limited said that the Director of AAHL, Jeet Adani, and its CEO, Arun Bansal, held a meeting with the airlines. “They have assured the airline community of minimisation of disruption and have assured them of fully respecting historical slot allocations. They have further committed not to disturb any slots for the winter schedule.”
Airlines were initially given a deadline of October 25, 2026, to shift 33% of their international operations to Navi Mumbai International Airport as T1 had to be redeveloped. The move was opposed by airlines, and the Aviation Ministry later asked the airport authorities to defer the move by a few weeks.
Airlines have also now been asked to inform the authorities in advance of the slots they require in T2 or at Navi Mumbai International Airport (NMIA) before the transition happens, said a source.
The statement further said, “A joint working group will work over the next two weeks to come up with a plan for the implementation of the redevelopment of the ageing T1 infrastructure.”
The airlines have also given a commitment to support the redevelopment work. They will also balance their traffic from the summer schedule. (The summer schedule for 2027 runs from March 28 to October 30.)
MIAL has also assured full support for any airline that wants to shift operations to NMIA.
“Both teams agreed to have a follow-up meeting on October 28 and, until then, to engage with each airline's network and slot teams,” the statement added.