Adani Airport Holdings (AAHL), a subsidiary of the Indian powerhouse conglomerate Adani Group, wants to shift a major airline customer from Mumbai International to Mumbai Navi Airport when it opens in 2024. The operator of seven major airports in India told a recent investor briefing that the airlines on the shortlist include Air India (AI, Delhi International) and IndiGo Airlines (6E, Delhi International).

According to The Business Standard newspaper, AAHL wants to move one of its two biggest airline customers to Navi when it opens to reduce pressure on Mumbai International. Capacity constraints and the airport's location means there is little scope for Mumbai International to expand beyond the existing 60 million annual passenger cap. The airport's single runway also severely restricts the number of new slots available to airlines.

According to AAHL, the transferring airline will get the benefit of prime slots at Navi, which will initially cater to 20 million passengers annually but increase to 90 million when it reaches maximum capacity. The ch-aviation PRO airports module reveals Mumbai International is presently handling 2,715 flights a week that make available 507,558 seats. IndiGo Airlines provides 37.96% of those seats, followed by Air India on 13.4%, Vistara on 12.2%, and Go First on 8.61%. AAHL says that market share sees IndiGo Airlines operating over 900 flights a week to and from the airport and Air India operating just under 400 flights a week.

AAHL has previously said it sees Mumbai International operating primarily as an international airport while also providing some "premium" domestic operations while Navi will mostly operate as a domestic and regional airport. ch-aviation has approached both IndiGo Airlines and Air India for comment on the latest proposal. The newspaper report did not state if AAHL wants to move all or just some of the particular airline's flights to the new airport.

By 2027, AAHL wants to see annual passenger numbers hitting 75 million across its airports, which will then include Navi, Mumbai International, Ahmedabad, Lucknow, Jaipur, Guwahati, and Thiruvananthapuram. The airport operator also wants to see carriers fly more unserved and underserved routes from its airports, using more widebody aircraft. During the investor briefings, AAHL also admitted it has ambitions to turn Mumbai into a major transit hub modelled on Dubai International.