Foreign airlines operating from Mumbai’s Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport (CSMIA) have recommended moving select international services to Navi Mumbai International Airport (NMIA) on a destination basis while Terminal 1 (T1) is rebuilt, sources said, citing the airport operator’s letter to the government.
The approach would put all flights on each route at one airport in the Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR) rather than split them between two. MIAL’s letter described the redevelopment as delayed for over nine years. Services to Jeddah, Riyadh, Dammam, Doha, Muscat and Sharjah are due to move by Northern Summer 2027.
About 91 per cent of CSMIA’s existing capacity would be unaffected, according to the letter. The letter asked members of the airline operators committee to propose by November 3 which slots they could move voluntarily. Failing that, it said MIAL would move all flights to the 14 destinations. IndiGo said on October 25 it will progressively move 12 daily international departures to NMIA, taking its international network there to 12 destinations between February and July 2027. Air India Group said the same day that Air India Express will start four daily domestic flights from NMIA in December 2026. Planned Kuwait services, subject to approvals, and existing Oman services follow from January 2027. Akasa Air said on October 27 that it will fly Mumbai-Jeddah from NMIA from December 2026. T1, commissioned in 1964, has a designed capacity of 15 mppa. Structural audits by Structwel in 2017 and IIT Bombay in 2024 flagged concerns with the infrastructure, the statement said.
Sources said the Mumbai International Airport Ltd chief airport officer Vishnu Mohan Jha has written to the civil aviation secretary, saying the airlines recommended the arrangement to Adani Airport Holdings Ltd (AAHL), which operates CSMIA. That, it said, “will ensure that all flights from the Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR) to these international destinations are available at ONE airport”.
