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India Asks Mumbai Airport to Defer 265 Slot Cuts

By Drooid · Oct 7, 2026, 8:10 PM UTC · How we work

Summary

India Defers Slot Cuts

India’s civil aviation ministry asked Mumbai International Airport Ltd to defer cutting 265 international slots.
IATA welcomed the intervention and called for a transparent, consultative transition plan.
The cut would remove 33% of weekly international departures, affecting 46 airlines.
IndiGo would lose 74 slots, Air India 33, and Emirates and Etihad each 10.
Airlines must submit transition plans by Oct 6; the ministry set an Oct 20 deadline for a joint plan.

Summary

MIAL Begins Demolition

MIAL will begin demolishing the North Section of Terminal 1-B on 15 January 2027.
The demolition supports a redevelopment that will raise Mumbai Airport’s capacity by 33 percent to 20 million passengers annually.
A 2017 structural audit found severe corrosion, spalling concrete and cracked reinforcement in Terminal 1-B, prompting demolition.
Around 5 million passengers—about nine percent of annual traffic—will face longer road trips and higher costs during the shift.

History

Historical Context

In 1998, Mumbai’s Terminal 2, opened by Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, expanded airport capacity and sparked a nationwide slot-reallocation significant effort. The Airports Authority of India projected the terminal would handle 12 million extra passengers yearly, prompting Air India, Jet Airways and nine carriers to revise slots. Today, the ministry’s order that MIAL postpone cutting 265 slots and demolish Terminal 1-B mirrors the 1998 reshuffle, as IndiGo, Air India and Emirates face cuts. Such cycles repeatedly force regulators to juggle growth ambitions with airline access, shaping India’s aviation policy and future infrastructure planning.

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India Defers Slot Cuts

India’s civil aviation ministry asked Mumbai International Airport Ltd to defer cutting 265 international slots.
IATA welcomed the intervention and called for a transparent, consultative transition plan.
The cut would remove 33% of weekly international departures, affecting 46 airlines.
IndiGo would lose 74 slots, Air India 33, and Emirates and Etihad each 10.
Airlines must submit transition plans by Oct 6; the ministry set an Oct 20 deadline for a joint plan.

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