International departure capacity at Terminal 2 of Mumbai airport would fall by about 33% from October 25 if the cuts go ahead.

Mumbai International Airport Ltd has threatened to discontinue 265 of 770 weekly slots.

The cuts would affect 46 airlines.

The airport operator cited the Terminal 1 redevelopment.

Airlines have until October 6 to respond.

The redevelopment requires moving about 5 million passengers a year from Terminal 1 to Terminal 2.

IndiGo faces a cut of 74 weekly slots and Air India 33.

Emirates and Etihad Airways each face a cut of 10 weekly departures.

Akasa Air faces a cut of 11 slots, Air India Express 7 and SpiceJet 5.

MIAL has asked airlines to identify the specific departure slots they want to discontinue by 4 pm on October 6.

For airlines that do not respond, MIAL will decide the cuts itself.

The International Air Transport Association, or IATA, has opposed compulsory airline relocations.

IATA has argued for voluntary transfers and for protecting existing slot entitlements during the transition.

A slot is the approved time at which an airline may take off from or land at an airport.

The reports did not include a direct statement from the government or the airlines on the proposed cut.

Mumbai’s Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport has two terminals, Terminal 1 and Terminal 2, and Terminal 2 opened in 2014.

October 25, 2026 is the last Sunday of October, the date on which the northern winter flight schedule normally begins.

Air India, Air India Express, Akasa Air, IndiGo and SpiceJet are Indian carriers, while Emirates and Etihad Airways are Gulf carriers.

The cuts are proposed on weekly international departure slots, which means the figures describe flights each week, not a single day.

IATA is the trade body that represents airlines worldwide.

Mumbai International Airport Ltd, or MIAL, has threatened to temporarily discontinue 265 weekly international departure slots at Terminal 2 from October 25, 2026.

Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport, Mumbai (file image), Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 4.0

The rehabilitation of Delhi airport’s runway 11R/29L included resurfacing and a permanent threshold displacement of runway 29L.

Threshold displacement moves the point where landing aircraft can touch down, usually for safety reasons.

Resurfacing is needed because landings and take-offs wear the surface.

The runway reopened on September 20.

The works began in February.

DIAL said the runway is ready for operational use after all required inspections, validations and regulatory clearances.

The programme took about seven months from start to reopening.

Delhi’s airport operates with three runways, and having all three available adds capacity at one of India’s busiest aviation gateways.

Runway closures for rehabilitation reduce the number of flight movements an airport can handle at peak times.

Airlines operating from Delhi include IndiGo, Air India and Akasa Air, which run a large share of the airport’s domestic and international flights.

Reopening the runway is expected to help with scheduling flexibility and to reduce delays during busy periods, though the effect depends on airline schedules.

Passengers are advised to check flight status with their airline, since schedule changes can follow the reopening of a runway.

The airport is undergoing continued upgrades as passenger traffic in Delhi has grown steadily in recent years.

Runway resurfacing is periodically required because of the heavy wear caused by landings and take-offs.

Threshold displacement moves the point where landing aircraft can touch down, and it is used for safety reasons such as obstacle clearance.

Runway 11R/29L is one of Delhi airport’s three runways, alongside runways 10/28 and 11L/29R.

Delhi International Airport Limited (DIAL), a GMR-led consortium that manages Indira Gandhi International Airport, announced that Runway 11R/29L would be operational from September 20, 2026.

The runway, commonly called the third runway, had been under a comprehensive rehabilitation programme that started in February 2026.

The rehabilitation involved strengthening and upgrade works aimed at improving operational safety, efficiency, resilience and long-term capacity.

Runway at Indira Gandhi International Airport, Delhi (representative image), Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0

Air India has been served a show-cause notice after an immigration lapse involving three passengers at Delhi airport.

The three Italian passengers travelled from Amritsar to Delhi on Air India flight AI-1115 on September 4, then boarded a Lufthansa flight to Munich without completing immigration formalities.

The Civil Aviation Ministry termed the incident a ‘serious security and immigration-related lapse’, triggering a stakeholder meeting called by the Ministry of Home Affairs.

Air India’s hub-and-spoke model permits some passengers to clear immigration at their origin airport, but the three were reportedly not on an eligible connection.

The airline must formally respond to the notice, outlining the lapse and corrective steps it intends to take.

Under Air India’s hub-and-spoke model, passengers travelling from a spoke airport to an international destination through a hub can sometimes complete immigration formalities at the origin airport, but the three passengers were reportedly not travelling under an eligible Air India connection.

Show-cause notices require airlines to formally respond to regulators explaining the lapse and the corrective steps being taken, with further action possible depending on the response.

Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International Airport handles a significant share of India’s international transfer traffic, making procedural lapses there a particular concern for aviation security.

Airport immigration procedures are designed to ensure that international transfer passengers are properly screened and documented before entering a connecting flight’s international zone.

The incident adds to a series of recent regulatory scrutiny episodes involving Air India, ranging from flight delays to safety and operational reviews.

Indian aviation authorities have periodically tightened protocols at major hub airports following lapses of this kind, particularly involving cross-airline international connections.

The three passengers, identified as Surjit Singh, Balwinder Kaur and Gurdev Singh, had flown from Amritsar to Delhi on Air India flight AI-1115 on September 4.

They subsequently boarded Lufthansa flight LH-763 from Delhi to Munich without completing mandatory immigration formalities at Delhi airport.

Air India aircraft, Rajiv Gandhi International Airport, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0