India's civil aviation ministry on Tuesday directed Adani Airport Holdings to pause its plan to shift a portion of international flights from Mumbai's Terminal 2 to the new Navi Mumbai airport, Skift reported, citing people familiar with the matter.

Adani Airport Holdings owns both Mumbai's existing airport and the newly built Navi Mumbai International Airport, leaving a single concessionaire in control of how international capacity is divided between the two facilities. That concentration has shaped the dispute over slot redistribution and the speed of the transition.

What happened on Tuesday

The intervention came at the end of a roughly 90-minute meeting in New Delhi on Tuesday and does not amount to a cancellation of the transfer plan. It grants airlines and the airport operator additional time to negotiate a transition framework before any flights move, sources told Skift.

The proposed shift hinged on slot reallocation at Terminal 2, where MIAL had asked airlines to identify which flights they would surrender ahead of the Navi Mumbai move. MIAL set a 4 pm deadline on Tuesday to collect carriers' answers. The ministry's directive landed ahead of that cutoff, extending the runway for airlines to map out which routes, schedules and frequencies they could absorb at a new terminal without disrupting international service.

What does the ministry require next?

Officials have ordered airlines and Adani Airport to file a firm roadmap for relocating operations to Navi Mumbai. Two follow-up sessions are now scheduled:

• A meeting on October 13 between the ministry, airlines and Adani Airport
• A second session expected by October 20 to finalize the plan

The two dates give both sides a roughly three-week window to convert the current disagreement into a binding schedule.

Why this matters for sellers of travel

Mumbai's Terminal 2 is one of India's principal long-haul gateways, and the proposed shift would split international capacity across two airports held by the same concessionaire. The mechanics of that split will shape revenue, slot value and network planning for every airline that flies international from the metropolitan area.

For travel sellers, the unresolved transition has practical consequences. Routing options through Mumbai, connection times between domestic and international legs, and rebooking risk on winter-season itineraries all depend on which carrier keeps which slots at T2 and which migrates to Navi Mumbai first. Airlines will also price international fares out of Mumbai based on the cost base they negotiate for ground handling, terminal infrastructure and inter-airport transfers at the new facility.

What the October meetings will resolve

The two scheduled sessions will determine whether Adani Airport's original transition timeline stands or whether the operator, under ministry pressure, revises:

• The volume of international flights moving in the first wave to Navi Mumbai
• The order in which carriers shift capacity to the new terminal
• Operational details covering check-in, baggage handling and inter-airport connectivity for transfer passengers

The ministry's insistence on a firm roadmap — and not a reversal — leaves the underlying relocation intact, with only the clock reset. The October sessions will also test whether Adani Airport can deliver transition terms carriers are willing to sign, or whether the ministry will need to impose a binding allocation formula on the slot redistribution at Terminal 2.