Mumbai’s Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport (BOM) is preparing to rebuild Terminal 1 after its demolition in January 2026. Airlines have been asked to move around one-third of their operations to an alternative airport. The alternative location will be at the newly established Navi Mumbai International Airport (NMI).
Mumbai’s airport to increase passenger capacity
Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport (BOM) serves as Mumbai’s global hub and is India’s second-busiest airport for international passenger traffic. The airport operator, Mumbai International Airport Limited (MIAL), proposed demolishing Terminal 1 in 2025, predicting the reconstruction would take three years, from November 2025 to September 2028.
Demolition is now set to begin in January 2027, according to India’s Civil Aviation Ministry, as the need to increase passenger capacity grows.
Passengers will be affected by the move to Navi Mumbai International Airport (NMI), with the shift requiring 265 of the 770 weekly international flights to be resettled in NMI by Oct. 25, 2026. Airlines have been asked to transfer nearly one-third of cargo and international passenger movements to NMI airport, as well as one-third of air traffic movements to BOM’s Terminal 2.
Adani Airport Holdings Limited, a BOM stakeholder and operator, said around 9% of 55 million yearly passengers will be affected by the temporary migration.
Structural integrity
Mr Arun Bansal, CEO of Adani Airport Holdings Limited, stated in a press release that:
“91% of Mumbai Airport’s passenger traffic will remain unaffected even as we undertake
redevelopment of the age-old infrastructure that was in urgent need of repairs. Only the North Section of Terminal 1B, which accounts for around one-third of T1 of Mumbai Airport’s capacity, is being demolished in Phase 1 to minimise passenger inconvenience and operational disruption. The transition to Navi Mumbai Airport is temporary and does not represent a permanent shift of Mumbai Airport traffic.”
Terminal 1’s infrastructure has been a concern for the airport, with minimal solutions implemented over the years. According to Adani Airports, there has been an “absence of a viable alternative” for passengers and airlines to continue as normal while the construction needed to fix Terminal 1 is underway. The 60-year-old structure caught fire in April this year, making health and safety concerns more prominent and the reconstruction unavoidable.
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