Mumbai: Mumbai airport will become about a quarter smaller next winter and will stay smaller than it is today for three years, until Dec 2030 or even longer. Its two terminals together handled 55 million passengers last fiscal, but by Oct 2027 the airport will be able to handle only 40 million—a drop in capacity of 27%—even as demand for air travel will keep rising. The shrinking will happen because its Terminal 1 (T1), which handles 15 million passengers a year, or about 41,000 a day, will shut down completely next winter for redevelopment. From then on, Mumbai airport will operate out of its congested Terminal 2 alone, which can handle about 40 million passengers a year and is expected to grow only a little, to 45 million, by March 2029. That means more than one in four of the passengers who use Mumbai airport today will have to go to Navi Mumbai airport from next winter.Until now, airlines’ understanding was that T1 would be redeveloped in phases; a demolished portion will be followed by reconstruction before the next section is demolished so that the terminal can continue to handle flights and the airport’s capacity doesn’t shrink sharply. That is how redevelopment happens the world over at congested airports. Mumbai’s own Terminal 2, Delhi’s Terminal 1 and Terminal B at New York’s La Guardia airport were rebuilt in that way. Adani Airport Holdings Ltd (AAHL)’s press releases, including one issued on Oct 3 too, stated so, citing “phased redevelopment of T1”. But sources said Wednesday’s presentation by AAHL to airlines showed that only the demolition will be phased, not the redevelopment.What that means is T1 will be entirely demolished by March 2028, and only then will its reconstruction begin. It means that no part of T1 will remain in use while the new terminal is built (see box). TOI sought a clarification on this from AAHL. “Mumbai T1 will be shut down completely for redevelopment and the new enhanced terminal with capacity of 20 million passengers will be developed,” an AAHL spokesperson said. “The combined Mumbai metropolitan region (MMR) capacity will be at 60 million passengers for short period (Mumbai’s 40 million plus Navi Mumbai airport’s 20 million passengers per annum capacity), before increasing to 65 million passengers once Mumbai T2’s north west pier is completed in March 2029 and eventually be 80 million pax when T1 is redeveloped by 2030,” said an AAHL spokesperson.If these projects, especially T1 redevelopment, aren’t completed within these deadlines, MMR will face a severe capacity crunch from winter 2027 onwards, said airline sources.Under the current plans, AAHL will demolish one-third of T1 in phase-1 starting April next year, displacing 5 million domestic passengers per annum. AAHL has planned to accommodate these displaced passengers at T2; hence its decision to cut down international flights at T2 by one-third from summer 2027, which will move 5 million international passengers out of T2 largely to Navi Mumbai airport. Following political outcry over concerns of Mumbai airport’s diminishing status, AAHL clarified that 5 million international passengers moving out of T2 meant 91% of Mumbai passengers will be unaffected by T1 redevelopment. But what AAHL did not say was that eventually the entire T1 will be demolished by March 2028. It will displace a total of 15 million domestic passengers per year or affect 27% of Mumbai airport’s current passengers. Most of them would have to go to Navi Mumbai airport, whose terminal 1 can handle 20 mppa; it currently handles an estimated 6 mppa. But NMIA’s T1 is expected to reach saturation within a year. “Navi Mumbai terminal 2 will also be ready in 2030 with additional capacity of 30 million passengers and further addition of 20 million capacity by 2031,” the AAHL spokesperson added.
