Emirates Says Navi Mumbai Airport Lacks Catering and Cargo Facilities as MIAL Pauses Flight Shift

Emirates' Essa Sulaiman said Navi Mumbai International Airport is not ready to handle international flights because it still lacks supporting facilities such as catering and cargo warehousing. Sulaiman, senior vice-president for West Asia and Indian Ocean at Emirates Airline, said airlines would find it difficult to shift operations until the airport is developed into a fully functional aviation ecosystem, Business Standard reported on October 14.

MIAL's Flight Shift Plan and Emirates' Objection

A few weeks ago, Adani Group-controlled Mumbai International Airport Limited asked airlines to move 265 of 770 weekly international departures to Navi Mumbai by October 25 as it wanted to redevelop Terminal 1 at Mumbai airport. Airlines strongly opposed the move, and the matter was escalated to the Ministry of Civil Aviation. On Tuesday, MIAL held a meeting with airlines and assured them that no international flight would be shifted until at least March-end.

Asked whether Emirates would shift 33 per cent of its Mumbai flights to Navi Mumbai if the airport operator renewed its proposal, Sulaiman told reporters, "The airport is not ready." He pointed to the supporting facilities needed for airline operations. "At an airport, you will require a facility for catering. You will require a facility, for example, for cargo warehousing. You will require those elements. Until it gets fully built into an ecosystem, I think it's going to be difficult for any of the airlines to shift there," he said.

Emirates held a static display of its A380 aircraft at Delhi airport on Wednesday ahead of its deployment on the Delhi-Dubai route from October 26. Sulaiman said Delhi was an important market for the airline and that it would continue to operate four daily flights from Dubai to the city, with one flight operated by the A380 and the other three using retrofitted Boeing 777 aircraft.

Mumbai Airport's Scale in akta.pro Records

According to akta.pro company records, Mumbai International Airport Limited is a GVK-AAI joint venture operating Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport, India's second-busiest hub handling 45.4 million passengers and more than 0.6 million metric tons of cargo annually across more than 50 airlines and more than 90 global destinations. The same records put the airport's revenue estimate at $500 million to $1 billion.

Earlier Moves Toward the Navi Mumbai Shift

Mumbai International Airport Ltd sent an email to airline partners in August 2026 outlining a phased traffic shift ahead of Terminal 1 redevelopment, with at least one-third of international flights from Terminal 2 moving to Navi Mumbai from October 1, 2026, CNBCTV18 reported. The Times of India reported that Mumbai International Airport is shifting roughly 30 per cent of its international flight movements to Navi Mumbai International Airport from October 1, with at least one-third of Terminal 1 traffic moving to Terminal 2 from October 23. Business Standard reported that MIAL announced partial demolition of Terminal 1's North Section would begin on January 15, 2027.

What Comes Next for Mumbai and Navi Mumbai

MIAL has said no international flight will be shifted until at least March-end. Emirates will deploy its A380 on the Delhi-Dubai route from October 26, and Sulaiman said the airline would announce half-year results in November.