Mumbai International Airport Ltd has threatened to cut 265 of 770 weekly international departure slots at Terminal 2 from October 25, citing the redevelopment of Terminal 1, and has asked airlines to name the slots by 4 pm on October 6.
The numbers explain the pressure. The Terminal 1 redevelopment requires moving about 5 million passengers a year to Terminal 2, and the operator’s proposal would remove about a third of the international departures at the same terminal.
The cuts are spread across carriers: IndiGo 74 slots, Air India 33, Akasa Air 11, Emirates 10, Etihad Airways 10, Air India Express 7 and SpiceJet 5, among 46 airlines in all.
IATA has opposed compulsory relocations and argued for voluntary transfers and for protecting existing slot entitlements, which sets the airlines’ case against the operator’s deadline.
The reports did not include a direct response from the airlines or the government, so the outcome after October 6 is not yet known.
Emirates and Etihad Airways each face a cut of 10 weekly departures.
Akasa Air faces a cut of 11 slots, Air India Express 7 and SpiceJet 5.
MIAL has asked airlines to identify the specific departure slots they want to discontinue by 4 pm on October 6.
For airlines that do not respond, MIAL will decide the cuts itself.
The International Air Transport Association, or IATA, has opposed compulsory airline relocations.
IATA has argued for voluntary transfers and for protecting existing slot entitlements during the transition.
A slot is the approved time at which an airline may take off from or land at an airport.
The reports did not include a direct statement from the government or the airlines on the proposed cut.
Mumbai’s Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport has two terminals, Terminal 1 and Terminal 2, and Terminal 2 opened in 2014.
Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport, Mumbai (file image), Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 4.0