Mumbai: Mumbai airport is set to temporarily cut 265 of its 770 weekly international departure slots from Oct 25, and travellers are likely to pay for it one way or another this winter. The cut will hit 46 Indian and foreign airlines and remove about 38 international departures a day. If an airline moves the cut flights to Navi Mumbai, passengers face pricier cab rides. If it cancels them outright or moves them to other cities like Hyderabad or Bengaluru, fewer seats from Mumbai in the festive peak could push up fares.In its Oct 1 letter to airlines, Mumbai International Airport Ltd (MIAL) said the slots and ground infrastructure freed up will be used for domestic flights displaced by the partial demolition of Mumbai airport Terminal 1 (T1). T1, which handles only domestic flights, is set for phased redevelopment, from Jan 15, 2027.IndiGo will lose 74 of its 224 weekly international departure slots, Air India 33 of 100, Air India Express seven of 21, Akasa Air 11 of 32 and SpiceJet five of 14. Etihad and Emirates lose 10 of 28 each, and British Airways seven of 21. Singapore Airlines, Lufthansa, Kuwait Airways, Thai Airways, Virgin Atlantic, Oman Air, Ethiopian Airlines, Srilankan Airlines, Air Arabia, etc., will lose five out of 14 slots. Most carriers flying daily services lose three weekly slots. Airlines did not comment.On Saturday, Adani Airport Holdings Ltd (AAHL) reiterated only the north section of Terminal 1B, which accounts for around one-third of Mumbai airport’s T1 capacity, is being demolished in Phase 1 to minimise passenger inconvenience and operational disruption. “The transition to Navi Mumbai Airport is temporary and does not represent a permanent shift of Mumbai airport traffic,” said Arun Bansal, CEO, AAHL.Terminal 1 has long been identified as a safety-related concern, with only temporary mitigation measures implemented over the years due to the absence of a viable alternative, AAHL said, adding “extensive consultations with airlines on future of T1 are ongoing since 2020”. Passenger safety must remain paramount, and any further delay in commencing this process could adversely impact safety and convenience of millions of travellers, Bansal added. To draw carriers, Navi Mumbai Airport is offering a 100% waiver on landing fees for new international flights, AAHL said, adding it plans cash vouchers for international flyers to offset user development fee gap between the two airports.For now, MIAL’s plan is to begin from Oct 26 the allocation of vacated assets at T2 such as check-in counters, baggage belts, boarding gates and operational office space to scheduled domestic operators to facilitate the transition of around five million domestic passengers per annum (mppa) from T1 to T2. In its Oct 1 letter, MIAL said airlines must name the slots they will give up by 1600 hours on Oct 6, failing which MIAL will pick them.Meanwhile, airlines have rejected the cut and sought ministry of civil aviation’s intervention. Their contention is the airline winter schedule (Oct 25 to March-end) was approved in June and aircraft deployment and advance sales are already done. “Travel agents have already blocked a large number of seats and paid for them; about 35%-40% of seats on most Nov and Dec flights from Mumbai have already been booked. How can we cancel that flight now or say it has moved to Navi Mumbai?” asked an airline official.Said another airline official: “We support T1 redevelopment but that cannot be treated as consent to slot cancellations at T2. European carriers face the most legal exposure under EU 261. Refund and rerouting rights apply regardless of this, and with winter bookings already sold, this is where the cost will sit.” The airlines also allege there was no meaningful consultation. “How can a foreign carrier operate 4 departures from Mumbai and 3 from Navi Mumbai without hurting margins? Slot cancellation cannot be imposed unilaterally without airlines’ consent,” a source said.For flyers, fewer seats in the winter peak, when demand rises with holidays and weddings, would mean expensive fares. “Airlines are not certain to use Navi Mumbai as the alternative. One foreign airline said it might redeploy discontinued flights to cities such as Hyderabad and Bengaluru. That would leave Mumbai-origin flyers with fewer options,” said an industry official.
