Air India Group and IndiGo have agreed to shift part of their operations from Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport (CSMIA) to Navi Mumbai International Airport (NMIA) amid renovation, signalling a breakthrough in the months-long stalemate between airlines and the operator of the two airports, Adani Airport Holdings Ltd (AAHL).
Earlier, AAHL had asked airlines, including domestic and global, to cut 33 per cent of their international flights or shift them to NMIA by Sunday, citing renovation of the Mumbai airport's Terminal 1 (T1), scheduled to start next year. After strong opposition from airlines, AAHL has decided to defer the implementation of the shifting plan till the summer schedule starting in March 2027.
In a statement on Sunday, Air India Group said that it will commence the phased transition of some of its West Asia services to NMIA, with Air India Express operating four daily domestic flights from December 2026 and planned services to Kuwait and existing services to Oman from January 2027.
Air India Group will progressively transition Air India Express services to Jeddah, Riyadh, Dammam, Doha, Muscat, and Sharjah to NMIA, with the process expected to be completed by the IATA Northern Summer 2027 season.
IndiGo and AAHL jointly announced that they are in the final stages of operationalising a plan for IndiGo to commence international operations from NMIA from February 2027 and progressively expand its presence thereafter.
As part of its expansion at NMIA, IndiGo will transfer 12 daily international departures from CSMIA to NMIA, representing all the present operations from CSMIA to Bahrain, Riyadh, Dammam, Jeddah, Madinah, Kuwait, Ras Al Khaimah, Fujairah, Muscat, Dhaka and Jakarta.
An additional daily service to Kathmandu will also be introduced, taking IndiGo’s international network at NMIA to 12 destinations between February and July 2027.
IndiGo will also transit the required domestic connectivity from CSMIA to NMIA to support these international services from CSMIA to NMIA.
The transition by the two airlines comes days after the Airline Operators Committee (AOC), which represents airlines operating from Mumbai airport, said it “categorically rejects any unilateral traffic reallocation, slot reduction or cancellation or relocation of international operations without due process”.
Earlier, global airlines such as Emirates and Air France-KLM had resisted the move to split their operations between NMIA and CSMIA.
