MUMBAI: Chief minister Devendra Fadnavis has opposed the Mumbai airport operator’s plan to shift flights to 14 international destinations to Navi Mumbai airport from next summer, asserting that no flights would be moved out of Mumbai. He has written to the civil aviation minister, proposing an alternative plan for Terminal 1 (T1) redevelopment.Fadnavis has suggested developing Terminal 1B first, shifting operations from 1A to 1B and then demolishing the existing 1A terminal. “I have written to them to first develop Terminal 1B, shift 1A to 1B and then take down the existing 1A terminal,” he said. The proposal would allow T1 to be redeveloped in phases while keeping existing facilities operational, rather than shutting down the entire terminal before its replacement is ready.The proposed transfer of international flights to Navi Mumbai has faced opposition from airlines, particularly foreign carriers, as well as citizens.Last month, Mumbai International Airport Ltd (MIAL) informed airlines of plans to reduce international operations at Terminal 2 (T2) by a third from the Summer 2027 schedule, beginning at the end of March. This would make room for 5 million passengers per annum (mppa) of domestic traffic displaced by the first phase of T1 demolition. Last week, Adani Airport Holdings Ltd (AAHL) informed the civil aviation ministry of its plan to shift flights connecting Mumbai with 14 international destinations to Navi Mumbai from next summer.The destinations include Bahrain, Dammam, Dhaka, Doha, Fujairah, Jakarta, Jeddah, Kathmandu, Kuwait City, Madinah, Muscat, Ras Al Khaimah, Riyadh and Sharjah. MIAL has told airlines it cannot accommodate their requested Summer 2027 slots and that a temporary shift of some international operations out of T2 would be necessary.The plan has drawn resistance from airlines. The International Air Transport Association (IATA), which represents airlines globally, had urged the ministry to adopt a phased redevelopment strategy, with sections of T1 demolished and reconstructed sequentially to avoid a wholesale loss of capacity.The entire 15-mppa T1 is scheduled to be demolished by March 2028, with reconstruction to begin only thereafter. The new terminal is expected to be ready by December 2030. Airline sources said shutting T1 entirely would leave Mumbai airport with a substantial capacity deficit for three years or more.“The operational complexity at T1 stems from its fragmented infrastructure, with T1A, T1B and T1C not functioning as independent, full-scale terminals,” a source said.While T1A remains unusable due to infrastructure constraints and obsolete equipment, T1C has only six contact gates and depends on T1B for passenger check-in. Passenger processing is split between T1B’s two security hold areas and T1C, restricting passenger movement and affecting asset utilisation and service quality, the source added.The interdependence between T1 and T2 also extends to aircraft parking. MIAL has proposed a 3-km underground airside tunnel connecting the two terminals’ aprons, along with additional aircraft parking stands south of runway 09-27.Currently, when T2 runs short of parking stands, some aircraft are parked at the T1 apron. Passengers and baggage then have to be transported between the terminals via a perimeter road and runway 14-32.
