Mumbai Airport Reverses Slot Cuts And Freighter Shutdown After Consultations With Airlines

Mumbai: In a significant victory for airlines, Mumbai International Airport Ltd (MIAL) has reversed its earlier decision of slot cuts and shutting down freighter operations. The airport authority had been criticised for its unilateral decision over important issues which affected the airlines and passenger experience.

MIAL on April 21 informed the cargo operators about temporarily shutting down the freighter operations, the flights that only transport cargo goods, from August 16 till further notice. The airport operator had claimed that it needs to carry out multiple airside works. Similarly, MIAL also announced slot cuts for several airlines scheduled for the winter season, which saw severe backlash from the Airline Operators Committee-Mumbai.

According to sources, the decisions were reversed by the airport on Thursday following a meeting with the airlines which were affected by the changes. The airport has accepted to not cut around 150 take-off and landing slots and will also not shut freighter operations on the airport completely.

The Free Press Journal earlier reported that the International Air Transport Association (IATA) had intervened and criticised MIAL’s moves, terming them surprising and disappointing. In a statement, John Middleton, the head for worldwide airport slots at IATA, said that MIAL has failed to adhere to MoCA’s guidelines for slot allocation, including its direction to preserve historic rights for future seasons.

It had urged MIAL to immediately withdraw the cuts and instead urgently engage with the airline industry in meaningful consultations to minimise disruptions to airline operations, inconvenience to passengers, and loss of air connectivity for Mumbai.

“We hope that the operator of the two-airport system in Mumbai is not using this situation to pressure airlines to move their operations to their upcoming airport. We fear, however, that this is an example of airport capacity gaming which will harm aviation throughout India and beyond,” he said.

The move had faced severe backlash from airlines and the Airline Operators Committee-Mumbai (AOC-Mumbai), which wrote a complaint to the Ministry of Civil Aviation (MoCA). The airlines believed that this was an attempt to push the operations to the upcoming Navi Mumbai International Airport. The airport operator did not provide an official statement regarding the development.