Cargo Breaking News
Mumbai International Airport Limited (MIAL) was asked to withdraw its discriminatory impact on cargo operations. “IATA is disappointed that MIAL has informed airlines of the unilateral cessation of freighters, and a permanent withdrawal of historic slots beginning next season,” John Middleton, Head, Worldwide Airport Slots, said in IATA’s official statement. He added this is not what one would expect of a major Indian airport in India and will cause long-lasting damage to its reputation and credibility. “IATA hopes Adani Airports is not using this situation to pressure airlines to move their operations to upcoming Navi Mumbai Airport. We fear this is an example of airport “capacity gaming,” which will harm aviation across India and beyond. We urge the central and state governments to ensure capacity reductions unilaterally mandated by the operator are disallowed as this would disrupt passenger and cargo operations at MIAL,” he added.
Continuing, he said MIAL has failed to adhere to MoCA’s Guidelines for Slot Allocation, including its direction to preserve historic rights for future seasons. There are international norms to deal with temporary capacity reductions at airports, which calls for advance notice rather than the unilateral action. Developed by the Worldwide Airport Slot Board, they were agreed by the Airports Council International, IATA, and the Worldwide Airport Coordinators Group, Middleton said.
So far there have been no details on how MIAL will manage the capacity reduction.
