Maharashtra chief minister Devendra Fadnavis has opposed a proposal to shift international flights from Mumbai airport to Navi Mumbai airport from next summer, saying no flights would be moved out of the existing airport. He has instead proposed a phased redevelopment plan for Terminal 1 that would keep the terminal operational while its replacement is built.
Fadnavis said he had written to the airport operator proposing that Terminal 1B be developed first, after which operations from Terminal 1A could be moved to the new section. The existing 1A terminal could then be demolished and reconstructed in stages, allowing the airport to retain capacity during the redevelopment.
“I have written to them to first develop Terminal 1B, shift 1A to 1B and then take down the existing 1A terminal,” Fadnavis said, according to the report. The alternative sequence would avoid shutting down the entire terminal before construction of its replacement begins.
The proposal now has to be taken up with the Union civil aviation ministry, which is examining a capacity-reduction plan submitted by Mumbai airport operator Mumbai International Airport Ltd. The Airports Authority of India holds a 26% stake in Mumbai airport, while the remaining 74% is held by Adani Airport Holdings Ltd.
The dispute follows plans to reduce international operations at Terminal 2 by about one-third from the Summer 2027 schedule, beginning at the end of March. MIAL had informed airlines that the reduction would be required to accommodate 5 million passengers per annum of domestic traffic displaced by the first phase of Terminal 1 demolition.
Last week, Adani Airport Holdings informed the ministry that it planned to move flights connecting Mumbai with 14 international destinations to Navi Mumbai airport from next summer. The destinations listed were Bahrain, Dammam, Dhaka, Doha, Fujairah, Jakarta, Jeddah, Kathmandu, Kuwait City, Madinah, Muscat, Ras Al Khaimah, Riyadh and Sharjah.
The proposed transfer has faced resistance from airlines. The International Air Transport Association, which represents airlines globally, had urged the ministry to adopt a phased redevelopment approach, with portions of Terminal 1 demolished and rebuilt sequentially instead of removing the entire terminal’s capacity at once.
Terminal 1, which has a capacity of 15 million passengers per annum, is scheduled to be fully demolished by March 2028, with reconstruction planned to begin after that. The replacement terminal is expected to be ready by December 2030. Airline sources cited in the report said that completely shutting Terminal 1 could leave Mumbai airport with a substantial capacity deficit for three years or more.
The final decision on the flight allocations and the redevelopment sequence rests with the Union civil aviation ministry and the airport authorities. Until that decision is taken, the proposed shift of international services to Navi Mumbai remains under examination.
