Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport (CSMIA) in Mumbai, India’s second-largest airport in terms of air cargo, will suspend all dedicated freighter/cargo flights from August 2026 to May 2027 to accommodate major infrastructure works, Business Standard has reported.
According to the report, Mumbai International Airport Ltd (MIAL) — the Adani Group-led operator of the airport — informed aviation stakeholders in a letter on December 11 that it had “thoroughly explored” alternatives to maintain cargo operations, but operational limitations made a temporary shutdown unavoidable.
The closure will support key projects:
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Re-carpeting the main runway, which will be closed for most of the day during the works.
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Building a new parallel taxiway to improve airside aircraft movement.
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Rebuilding Apron G, the only cargo apron where freight aircraft park and load/unload goods.
The airport handled 8.9 lakh tonnes (890,000 tonnes) of cargo in FY 2024-25, accounting for nearly a quarter of India’s total air cargo throughput that year.
MIAL noted that due to space constraints and continuous passenger flight operations, there is no feasible alternative apron at the airport to handle freighter operations while reconstruction is underway.
CSMIA currently manages about seven to eight cargo flight departures per day, moving goods such as pharmaceuticals, perishables and other time-sensitive freight.
The extended suspension is expected to have significant implications for India’s air cargo supply chain, prompting carriers and logistics firms to plan alternative arrangements and potentially shift more freight to other airports, including the newly developed Navi Mumbai International Airport (NMIA), which is set to begin operations in late December 2025.
MIAL described the developments as part of long-term capacity enhancements at one of the world’s most land-constrained airports, which handles more than 55 million passengers annually alongside cargo operations.