Mumbai International Airport Photo Credit: Commons
Government body Airports Authority of India (AAI) has opposed the plan of Mumbai International Airport Limited (MIAL), which calls for complete demolition of Terminal 1 (T1). AAI says it should be dismantled in a phased manner. Business Standard has received this information.
Along with this, global airlines organization International Air Transport Association (IATA) has said that MIAL did not hold any discussion with the airlines regarding the redevelopment of Terminal 1 nor did it provide adequate information to reduce the problems in flights. IATA also said that closing Terminal 1 appears to be forcing airlines to move to the new Navi Mumbai airport, which could lead to “significant and unnecessary expenses” for airlines.
Major airlines of India such as IndiGo, Air India and SpiceJet are members of IATA. Navi Mumbai International Airport (NMIAL) is building Navi Mumbai airport and is scheduled to start its commercial operations in June. It is a subsidiary of Adani Group led MIAL.
Last month, the Airports Economic Regulatory Authority of India (AERA) had said demolition of Terminal 1 was necessary for “public safety” following a site visit and audit by IIT Bombay. The audit found rust, leakage and cracks in the building. However, the question is whether the terminal should be demolished all at once or gradually, so that disruption to flights is minimized. MIAL did not respond to Business Standard’s queries on the matter.
Reconstruction will be completed by September 2028
Mumbai airport currently has two terminals—Terminal 1 and Terminal 2. Its annual passenger handling capacity is 15 million and 40 million passengers respectively. Last month, MIAL had said that Terminal 1 will be demolished in October this year and its reconstruction is expected to be completed by September 2028. During the reconstruction, about 5 million passengers from Terminal 1 will be transferred to Terminal 2, while the remaining 10 million passengers will be sent to Navi Mumbai Airport. Airlines are worried as they do not yet know which of their flights will transfer to Navi Mumbai.
AERA is currently seeking advice from aviation sector stakeholders to allow MIAL to collect aeronautical charges like landing charges, parking charges and user development charges till 2028-29.
Last month, AERA had held discussions with MIAL’s design team to see if Terminal 1 could be built in phases. Initially with a capacity of 10 million passengers per annum (MPPA) and later to be increased to 20 MPPA depending on the actual traffic after the launch of Navi Mumbai Airport. This phasing-out approach can help control costs and respond to changing demand. However, MIAL said that modular construction is not possible due to space constraints and the size of the available land.
Mumbai Airport has two terminals—Terminal 1 and Terminal 2—with Terminal 1 consisting of three buildings: T1A, T1B and T1C. Earlier this week, AAI accepted MIAL’s plea to demolish the structure of Terminal 1 and reconstruct it. However, AAI said this “can be done in a phased manner”.
“It is felt that the proposal of MIAL can be redesigned so that the reconstruction of the domestic terminal complex begins gradually, with demolition of the T1A building first,” AAI said in a letter dated April 16, 2025. In a separate letter dated April 15, 2025, IATA told AERA that MIAL “has not consulted the airline community nor provided sufficient information regarding efforts to phase out the redevelopment of Terminal 1 so as to minimize the impact on service levels and capacity.”
IATA said, “The airport operator has refused to provide information about the infrastructure capacity and demand dependencies between the existing Mumbai and Navi Mumbai airports. It may appear that the closure of Terminal 1 is a strategy to force airlines to transfer to the new airport, which could lead to huge and possibly unnecessary costs for the airlines.”
First Published – April 18, 2025 | 9:15 PM IST
