The International Air Transport Association has urged Mumbai airport and airlines to examine alternatives to a proposed reduction of 265 weekly international departures after the Civil Aviation Ministry asked the airport operator to defer its current transition plan.

The proposal would have removed 265 of the 770 weekly international departure slots at Mumbai's Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport from October 25. That represents about 34% of the current weekly international departures and would affect 46 Indian and foreign airlines.

IATA said on October 7 that any reduction in airport capacity should follow a transparent assessment of demand and available capacity, meaningful consultation with affected airlines and enough time to establish workable transition arrangements. Its position was reported by The Hindu and independently by The New Indian Express.

What Mumbai airport had proposed

Mumbai International Airport Ltd, or MIAL, had planned to withdraw 265 weekly international departure slots from Terminal 2 beginning October 25. Airlines would have needed to shift affected services to Navi Mumbai International Airport, alter their schedules or discontinue some Mumbai departures under the proposed arrangement.

The capacity released at Terminal 2 was intended to accommodate domestic flights displaced as Terminal 1 undergoes redevelopment. T1 currently handles domestic traffic, while international operations at Mumbai airport use Terminal 2.

The Civil Aviation Ministry intervened on October 6 and asked MIAL to defer the existing plan while the airport operator and airlines develop a jointly agreed transition arrangement. The Indian Express reported that the original October 25 reduction has been put on hold pending the revised plan.

IATA wants the need for the cuts reassessed

IATA is not arguing that the Terminal 1 redevelopment or the wider transition to a two-airport system should be abandoned. Instead, it wants the parties to reassess how much capacity must actually be removed from Mumbai airport and whether other measures could reduce the scale of the proposed cuts.

The association said the revised approach should be agreed through consultation between MIAL and the airlines operating at Mumbai airport, with particular attention to protecting passenger journeys, airline operations and international connectivity across the Mumbai Metropolitan Region.

IATA's position is consistent with India's official Guidelines for Slot Allocation. The Ministry of Civil Aviation guidelines call for a demand-and-capacity analysis when airport infrastructure or operating conditions change significantly, with the findings shared with airlines before final capacity is determined.

IATA's own Worldwide Airport Slot Guidelines also set out industry processes for managing scarce airport capacity and temporary capacity reductions.

Why airlines objected to the October 25 timeline

The proposed cuts would have arrived at the start of the winter scheduling season, after airlines had already planned aircraft rotations, crew deployment, ground handling and connecting itineraries around their Mumbai operations.

Moving international services between Mumbai and Navi Mumbai can also require airlines to reorganise operational resources across two separate airports. That is why carriers have argued that a large-scale shift requires more time and consultation than the original timetable allowed.

The government pause does not mean that all 265 departures will necessarily remain at Mumbai airport. It means the original plan will not proceed unchanged while MIAL and airlines negotiate the number of flights that need to move and the timetable for doing so.

What happens next

The next stakeholder meeting involving airlines and the airport operator is scheduled for October 13. A further meeting is expected on October 20 to discuss the final contours of the revised transition plan, according to reports following the Civil Aviation Ministry-led discussions.

Until that process is completed, there is no final replacement schedule for the 265 weekly international departures originally targeted for reduction from October 25.

Passengers should therefore not treat all 265 services as confirmed cancellations or transfers to Navi Mumbai. The final impact will depend on the revised plan agreed by the airport operator, airlines and aviation authorities, followed by schedule changes announced by individual carriers.