NEW DELHI: Some flights of all big Indian carriers like Air India Group and IndiGo are likely to be shifted in the same ratio from Mumbai’s Chatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport (CSMIA) to the upcoming Navi Mumbai International Airport (NMIA) when the latter gets operational later this summer. Foreign carriers with a few flights will operate fully from either of these two airports.
The Adani Group is also weighing options for the demolition of T1 — whether to bring down the entire structure in one go this winter or do it piecemeal. T1 comprises of T1A, B and C buildings which were built over last 50 years with 1B being constructed in 1965; 1A in 1992 and 1C in 2010.
“We are in talks with all airlines. As far as Indian carriers are concerned, the plan is to shift equal percentage of flights by them from CSMIA to NMIA. Foreign airlines with few flights will not like to split operations and will continue to operate from one hub only in Mumbai MMR. Some foreign airlines want to move fully to NMIA,” said people in the know. Air India has about 140 daily flights to and from CSMIA; Akasa 57 and AI Express about 15. IndiGo, the biggest Indian carrier in market share terms, did not give this figure.
“We are weighing the option of either starting NMIA operations with domestic flights. In that case, domestic flights will be shifted first. Or we could start both domestic and international simultaneously, in which case both will be shifted,” said sources.
The rate of shifting flights will also depend on how fast T2 capacity grows from 4 crore passengers annually (CPA) to 4.5 CPA and whether T1 goes down in one go or in phases — basically the capacity of CSMIA. “The existing T1 handles 1.5 CPA. T1 demolition will start 4-5 months after NMIA gets operational, which means by this Nov or Dec. We hope to increase T2 capacity by mid 2026. These decisions will be taken shortly,” they said.
Airlines also want clarity on these issues. The reason: They are selling tickets for flights, some of which will get shifted. “Once we inform passengers that their flight, for say July/Aug, has been moved to NMIA, we don’t know whether it suits them or not. To minimise this, we need clarity at the earliest. We don’t have same issues with whenever Noida Airport opens as we are not selling tickets for there yet,” said a senior airline official.
Meanwhile, Mumbai International Airport Ltd (MIAL) is also in talks with aviation authorities to lift the cap on hourly flight movements. This was done to ease the severe congestion seen perennially at CSMIA. The aviation ministry had two years back directed MIAL to reduce their flight operations from 46 to 44 per hour during “high intensity runway operations” (HIRO) periods from 8-11 am and 5-8 pm and from 44 to 42 aircraft movement per hour during non-HIRO period.
“We are confident of handling more flights without affecting time performance, at least from our side as an airport. MIAL has been in talks with authorities to lift that cap. We are in process of increasing CSMIA runway capacity. Gatwick, the world’s busiest single runway airport handles 54-55 flights an hour,” sources added.