Mumbai, Oct 7 (PTI) Shiv Sena (UBT) MLA Aaditya Thackeray on Wednesday demanded that the Terminal 1 (T1) of the Mumbai international airport be repaired and rebuilt without forcing airlines and passengers to move to the new Navi Mumbai airport and sought the Centre’s intervention into the matter.
The current T1 was built not too long ago, and whatever upgrade is needed, must happen without “hassling and fleecing” Mumbaikars and those transiting through the metropolis, he insisted.
“The Union Regime’s Minister for Civil Aviation must step in and speak up on the Mumbai Airport T1 issue now! Our demand is simple: Repair/refurbish/rebuild the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport- T1 (in Mumbai) without forcing airlines and passengers to move to DB Patil International Airport – Navi Mumbai,” Thackeray said in a post on X.
After the (airport) management was made to change hands, one anyway sees chaos in crowd management, and commercialisation of almost every little thing at the airport now – even parking charges per hour are astronomical! Fleecing is on anyway, the Opposition MLA from Worli in Mumbai further said.
“And now the forced shift to Navi Mumbai (airport), with or without any ground connectivity, is still only a way to shut down T1 for 4 years as first claimed by the owner, and then possibly totally shift things to Navi Mumbai and finish off Mumbai’s connect and ease of connect with the world,” he alleged.
The current chaos is only leading to disrepute of Mumbai and its airport, globally. Navi Mumbai is an additional airport, not a makeshift airport. The question arises again – who is it being done for?, Thackeray asked.
Adani Airport Holdings Ltd (AAHL) has asked airlines to shift 33 per cent of their international flights from Mumbai’s Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport (CSMIA) T2 to the Navi Mumbai International Airport (NMIA) or discontinue them by October 25, a proposal that has been opposed by the carriers.
The civil aviation ministry on Tuesday suggested AAHL to delay the proposed partial shifting of international flights from CSMIA to NMIA, and added discussions will be held to chart out the transition plan.
AAHL, which operates both Mumbai and Navi Mumbai airports, is set to start renovation of CSMIA Tl, due to which it has proposed partial shifting of flight operations to the satellite city, where the new airport started operations in December 2025.
On October 3, AAHL said 91 per cent of Mumbai airport’s passenger traffic will remain unaffected due to the demolition of the north section of T1 for the redevelopment of the six-decade-old terminal and subsequent relocation of partial operations to T2 and NMIA.
The redevelopment of T1 will begin in January 2027, post-which its capacity will increase by 33 per cent — up to 20 mppa (million passengers per annum) from the current 15 mppa, AAHL had said in a statement.
Mumbai’s CSMIA, one of the busiest airports in the country, has two terminals — T1 and T2. While T1 is used for domestic operations, international flights operate from T2. PTI PR RSY
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