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Mumbai International Airport (MIAL) is preparing to implement a 10-month suspension of freighter operations – from next August through May 2027 – to facilitate major infrastructure works.
MIAL has lined up this rescheduled programme after backing off from its early 2025 announcement that it would suspend freighter slots this August, which brought a massive outcry across the industry and was finally shelved.
The airport is operated and managed by Adani Airport Holdings (AAHL) which, in a communique to stakeholders, said it had “thoroughly explored alternatives to maintain cargo operations”, but operational limitations made a temporary closure inevitable.
MIAL is India’s second-busiest air cargo gateway, so next year’s halt to cargo flight handling for a long period will undeniably cause considerable pain points for industry stakeholders, sources believe.
The airport handles roughly a quarter of India’s overall air cargo trade, some 890,000 million tonnes of cargo in fiscal year 2024-25, and 341,500mt in H1 (April-September) of fiscal 2025-26, up 4% year on year, available data shows.
The infrastructure upgrade aims for better efficiency and includes re-carpeting the main runway and developing a new parallel taxiway.
MIAL had previously said the revamp would involve investment of some $1.2bn; according to current data, the overstretched terminal has a network of some 24 airlines using freighters.
IATA was at the forefront of pushing back against the previous freighter suspension plan, calling it an “unplanned and arbitrary” approach. So, it remains to be seen how industry stakeholders will greet the latest news.
The reset MIAL freighter suspension follows the opening of Adani’s new Navi Mumbai Airport, outside Mumbai City. But cargo infrastructure there has yet to settle into full flow, especially for perishables trade.
The Navi Mumbai integrated air cargo terminal features some 360,000sq ft for domestic cargo and some 255,000sq ft for international cargo, with Phase 1 capacity pegged at 800,000 tonnes annually.
Additionally, belly-hold capacity for Indian air freight had been under pressure in the past few weeks, due to large-scale schedule disruption reported for India’s largest private airline, IndiGo.
But Suneet Gupta, global head of business development at Mumbai-based Kale Logistics Solutions, believes better planning – now apparently in place – should help the trade overcome much of the pressure expected to unfold due to upcoming MIAL disruption.
“With an eight-month lead time ahead of the suspension, freighter operators are well positioned to prepare and adapt their operations,” he told The Loadstar.
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