Mumbai airport slots for flights to 14 international destinations will be unavailable to several airlines from the summer 2027 schedule, as terminal capacity is reduced during the reconstruction of Terminal 1. Affected services may have to move to Navi Mumbai International Airport or be temporarily suspended.
Mumbai International Airport Ltd (MIAL), the operator of Mumbai airport, informed airlines operating to Bahrain, Dammam, Dhaka, Doha, Fujairah, Jakarta, Jeddah, Kathmandu, Kuwait City, Madinah, Muscat, Ras Al Khaimah, Riyadh and Sharjah that their requested slots could not be accommodated from late March 2027. The restriction is expected to continue through subsequent seasons.
According to the letter reported by the Times of India, MIAL has allocated slots to 38 of the 50 international airlines that sought them for the summer 2027 schedule. Twelve airlines operating about 32 daily flights to the 14 destinations have not been allocated slots at Mumbai airport.
MIAL said the capacity of Terminal 2 would be reduced by 5 million passengers per annum, making it impossible to accommodate flights to the selected destinations from next summer. The destinations were reportedly chosen to concentrate connectivity between the Mumbai metropolitan region and these cities at one airport, reducing the possibility of passengers having to manage overlapping services across Mumbai airport and Navi Mumbai airport.
The operator said in its letter that the affected historic slots would be fully restored after the expansion of Terminal 2, once additional capacity becomes available. MIAL is expected to complete the T2 expansion by March 2029, according to a presentation made to airlines last month. This timeline differs from an earlier position that historic slots would be restored only after the reconstruction of Terminal 1, which is expected to be completed in 2030 or later.
The immediate international-flight disruption follows a broader plan to reduce capacity at Mumbai airport during the rebuilding of T1. On October 1, MIAL told 46 Indian and foreign airlines that it planned to cut 265 of the airport’s 770 weekly international departure slots to accommodate domestic passengers displaced during the first phase of T1 demolition. Airlines were asked to submit their plans for temporarily vacating the slots by November 3.
The capacity pressure is expected to increase from the winter 2027 schedule, when Terminal 1 is scheduled to shut completely. The terminal currently handles about 15 million passengers per annum and is scheduled to be demolished entirely by March 2028. Reconstruction is expected to begin after demolition, with the rebuilt terminal targeted for completion by December 2030.
This will displace another 10 million passengers per annum, taking the total affected capacity to about 15 million passengers per annum until the new T1 is ready. IndiGo and the Air India Group have already announced plans to progressively shift 38 daily international flights from Mumbai to Navi Mumbai International Airport, including services to the 14 destinations identified by MIAL.
The current plan places Mumbai’s two airports at the centre of a multi-year capacity transition. For passengers, the affected routes, slot changes and eventual restoration of services will depend on airline decisions, terminal expansion and the phased reconstruction of Terminal 1.
