Up until March, hundreds of flights will be canceled! Will flight constraints at Mumbai airport result in higher airfares?

Update on flight operations at Mumbai Airport: According to the Ministry of Civil Aviation, excessive slot allocations caused congestion and prolonged aircraft wait times, sometimes reaching sixty minutes, therefore the ministry was compelled to step in and order Mumbai Airport to curtail fly operations.

The terms “airport slots” refer to designated times for aircraft takeoffs and landings. Based on an ET report, the ministry claims that the airport operator had not put procedures in place to properly control air traffic movements.
The Ministry of Civil Aviation justified its participation by acknowledging the necessity to strike a balance between the interests of airport operators and airlines while guaranteeing a positive flight experience for customers.
The response from this administration comes after travelers voiced disapproval and worries about possible fee hikes on the impacted routes.

Airlines are preparing to cancel hundreds of flights until March 30 in response to the Airports Authority of India’s (AAI) mandate to Mumbai Airport to reduce runway congestion. According to a Tuesday report from ET, some 40 flights are anticipated to be canceled starting in the middle of this week.
Reliance, JSW, and the Mahindra group are among the large corporations that have protested over the airport’s decision to extend the curfew on business aircraft operations from four to eight hours.
With just one runway, Mumbai Airport is well-known for its high volume of traffic. In December, it handled 4.88 million passengers, its greatest monthly traffic to date.
In reaction to the limitations on flight operations, Akasa Air said that it would be canceling two flights each day until the end of the next month.

An airline representative said that regulations intended to lessen runway congestion at Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport are expected to have an impact on flight operations to and from Mumbai. Two flights will thus be canceled between February 15 and March 30, 2024. Passengers impacted are given the option of getting a complete refund or rebooking their flights. If they want to postpone, they may do so up until April 15, 2024.
SpiceJet said that it complied with the government requirement, although it did not say how many flights were impacted.
Jyotiraditya Scindia, the minister of civil aviation, expressed worries about the airport’s decreased on-time departures, which led to the decision to restrict the number of flights.
The Ministry said that the Airport Authority of India’s investigation showed that aircraft movements during peak hours contributed almost the same amount of traffic as the other 18 hours combined. Moreover, during these peak hours, the use of corporate jets and military aircraft was unrestricted.
Delays caused by congestion result in more fuel being used, which raises operating expenses. The ministry underlined that these higher expenses are ultimately passed on to customers and have an effect on airport efficiency, meaning that delays and longer wait times damage travelers as well as airlines.