Qatar Airways, Air Arabia, others warn of diplomatic escalation over Adani’s Mumbai airport push
Gulf airlines, including Qatar Airways, Air Arabia, and Oman Air, are warning that diplomatic tensions could escalate over the proposed relocation of international flights from Mumbai's Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport (CSMIA) to the Adani Group-operated Navi Mumbai International Airport (NMIA). The airlines have threatened to take their concerns to aviation regulators and government bodies in their respective countries if their historical slots at CSMIA's Terminal 2 are not restored.
The dispute arises from MIAL's proposal to relocate 14 international routes to NMIA, which includes destinations such as Jeddah, Dhaka, Kathmandu, and Riyadh. The airlines argue that any reduction in airport capacity must adhere to the Ministry of Civil Aviation's 2013 Slot Allocation Guidelines and cannot be implemented unilaterally.
The controversy has also attracted political intervention, with Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis proposing an alternative solution of developing Terminal 1B, shifting operations from Terminal 1A to 1B, and then demolishing Terminal 1A.
Written by urgent.news from The Indian Express's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
