Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis has firmly opposed the plan to shift international flights from Mumbai's Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport to Navi Mumbai airport, and has written to the Union Civil Aviation Minister on the issue, reports said on Tuesday.

Source: Mirror Now

"I have written to them to first develop Terminal 1B, shift 1A to 1B and then take down the existing 1A terminal," Fadnavis said, ruling out any shift of flights. The Hindu BusinessLine reported the same position: the Chief Minister has proposed that the existing terminal be kept operational until its replacement is ready.

Source: The Hindu BusinessLine

The dispute is over how Mumbai airport is redeveloped. Operator Mumbai International Airport Ltd (MIAL), managed by Adani Airport Holdings Ltd, had proposed moving flights to 14 international destinations to Navi Mumbai from next summer while Terminal 1 is demolished and reconstructed. Under the operator's plan, international operations at Terminal 2 would also be cut by about one-third from March 2027 to absorb domestic traffic displaced by the Terminal 1 demolition, with routes such as Doha, Dhaka, Riyadh and Kathmandu among those slated to move.

Terminal 1 handles about 15 million passengers a year. On the operator's current schedule the terminal would be demolished by March 2028 and its replacement would not be ready until December 2030. The International Air Transport Association (IATA) has warned that a complete closure of Terminal 1 would leave Mumbai with a severe capacity deficit for at least three years.

14international destinations proposed for shift
15 millionpassengers a year handled by Terminal 1
March 2027when T2 international cuts were proposed to start
Dec 2030expected completion of replacement terminal

The Airports Authority of India holds a 26 per cent stake in Mumbai airport, while Adani Airport Holdings holds the remaining 74 per cent. The flight-shift dispute has been running for weeks: airlines had earlier asked the Civil Aviation Ministry to intervene against the proposed cuts, and the Centre had put an earlier version of the shift on hold in October after carriers raised operational and connectivity concerns.

What happens next rests with the Union Civil Aviation Ministry, which has yet to formally respond to the Chief Minister's phased-construction proposal. For now, Fadnavis's letter is the main obstacle to the proposed flight shifts, and Mumbai's international schedule for next summer remains unchanged.