Challenge Group suspends freighter flights to Navi Mumbai airport

Challenge Group said in a LinkedIn post that it decided to suspend its Mumbai operations "until further notice". Following its mandatory transition from BOM to NMI, it assessed conditions at the new airport and concluded that the present setup does not yet allow it to deliver cargo services with the reliability and certainty it requires. The group described the circumstances as outside its control but said the suspension was a deliberate decision; protecting customers, their cargo and the reliability of their supply chains remains its priority. It is evaluating alternative options to maintain connectivity between India and its international network and expects to share details of a new service shortly. It said it remains committed to Mumbai and will resume operations once conditions needed to support reliable cargo services are in place.

Chief Commercial Officer Or Zak listed the reasons behind the suspension. He said around 1,000 tonnes of inbound cargo is sitting on dollies at the airport; with so many dollies tied up, arriving aircraft cannot be offloaded and cargo stays on board. On exports, even after aircraft are offloaded, cargo is either not ready, built incorrectly, or not released from the warehouse because there are not enough dollies, so freighters leave with very little cargo or completely empty. Zak warned the timing could not be worse, as the disruption is unfolding at the start of the calendar year's air cargo peak season, when volumes typically climb sharply and airport handling capacity is tested most; volumes are about to increase, so the disruption could become much bigger quickly. He acknowledged NMI is much needed and has enormous potential, but said having the capacity and being ready to handle it are two different things.

Challenge Airlines flew its first freighter into NMIA on 24 September: a Boeing B767 freighter arriving from Dubai (DWC), followed by the airline's B777-300ERSF, or "Big Twin", freighter from Liege. The shift follows CSMIA's announcement of a temporary suspension of dedicated freighter operations from August 2026 through May 2027. It was reported that freighter operations there are exclusive to Apron "G", and no alternative apron is feasible because of continuous passenger flight operations and space constraints. Even before the transition began, industry sources claimed NMIA was not yet ready in terms of infrastructure and skilled manpower to support a full-scale move. Over the past month, a flurry of cargo airlines landed freighters at the new airport, with aircraft types including the Airbus A321-200P2F, A330F, B767F, B777F, B777-300ERSF, B747F and Antonov AN-124. Freighter operators that have flown into NMIA so far include National Airlines, Hong Kong Air Cargo, Cathay Cargo, Turkish Cargo, Qatar Airways Cargo, Silk Way West, MASkargo, MNG Airlines, SF Airlines, AIROne, Suparna Airlines, ROMCargo Airlines and Maximus Air. IndiGo CarGo became the first freighter operator at NMIA when it launched operations on 1 August. NMI opened international passenger traffic on July 15 with Air India Express launching the airport's first international service to Abu Dhabi; on the same day, NMI also started international export cargo with a 1,789 kg airlift to Abu Dhabi. NMI started domestic passenger traffic on December 25, 2025, following an inauguration by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on October 8, 2025.