How Mumbai's twin airports will play out under a common operator

Time of India

19-07-2025

Delhi-NCR and Mumbai MMR are set to acquire their second commercial airports this winter. The Adani Group proposes treating Mumbai's existing and upcoming airports as a single entity with unified charges, aiming to make flying more affordable.
AHMEDABAD: Come winter and the massive urban conglomerates with India's political and financial capitals at their core — Delhi National Capital Region (NCR) and Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR) — will get their second dedicated commercial airports.
In Delhi-NCR's case, the two will be operated by different entities — GMR Group and Zurich Airports.
Mumbai MMR, on the other hand, will have both the airports run by one operator —
Adani Group
— which says is developing a unique twin airport system by making it possible for airlines to seamlessly operate from either place in terms of airport costs.
The Adani group has asked Airports Economic Regulatory Authority (AERA) to consider Mumbai's Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport (CSMIA) and Navi Mumbai International Airport (NMIA) as a single airport with common charges.
'CSMIA is an older airport with a depreciated asset base. NMIA is new greenfield airport. The cost structures are high for one and way low for the other. We are working with govt on how to combine these cost structures so that, as a system, flying becomes more affordable,' Adani Group director (airports) Jeet Adani told TOI Friday.
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For example, say the airport charges and user development fees of CSMIA are X keeping in mind the Rs 5,000 capex for new T1.
And the same for NMIA are 6X given the Rs 19,000 crore phase I & II combined getting ready. 'If the two are combined, it will cost 3X at both places. When both the airports are serving the same catchment, same economy, same city then why should there be two differential pricing instead of a lower pricing for all? We have made a recommendation to AERA for this.
The AERA Act passed by Parliament allows grouping of airports. So under that act, we have requested that CSMIA and NMIA be treated as a single airport,' Adani said.
The group is treating the two airports as 'independent but cohesive.' So how will the two airports operate post 2030 when CSMIA gets a new T1 and NMIA gets T2? 'What I ultimately see happening is an alliance split. One airport will be the base for One World and other for Star Alliance.' A bit like New York's JFK & Newark.
NMIA, which is still in design stage and will cost Rs 1 lakh crore in its overall implementation to achieve the peak 9 CPA capacity, is being conceived very differently from CSMIA, which had come up at a time of origin-destination travels with very low transfer connections.
'NMIA is to be a global hub for air travel and not just an origin-destination airport. We are in talks with airlines (IndiGo and Air India) to make it their home base for their global footprint.
We have shown them our plans and have asked to be included in their plans. We want to know what they want in terms of connection & baggage transfer time, MRO. India has a solid chance of making its on global hubs,' Adani said.
The group is open to giving any one of the three terminals at NMIA as a dedicated terminal to an Indian carrier (IndiGo or Air India) and their partners.
'We are not here just as an airport operator but want to drive the entire ecosystem forward. It is not a fight between airline and airport operators. Collectively, our aviation ecosystem has to get the traffic currently transiting between India and rest of te world through nearby hubs in the Gulf, Southeast Asia and even Europe (for North America market).
Those places have a deep integration between airports and airlines, which as of now is not there in India,' he said.
'Fortunately as a group we have fantastic relationship with IndiGo and the Tatas. We have spoken to both and have asked them to include us to their planning and be a part of our planning. Once the NMIA T2 is ready, I can give it to an (Indian) airline and its partner. That is why we are demolishing CSMIA T1 in phases so as not to take the capacity out in one go,' he added.