The Indian aviation industry is going through a mixed bag of emotions. On the one hand, the monthly air passenger traffic surpassed pre Covid-19 levels and airlines like Akasa successfully started its operations, Go First and Jet Airways have put a black mark on the success story of the aviation sector. While Jet Airways failed to take a flight under the new ownership of Jalan-Kalrock, Go First has now filed an application for voluntary insolvency proceedings with NCLT. This has led to troubles not only for the passengers, but for the aviation industry in general.
However, there’s one such unsuspected aviation player in India, that has suffered from the possible exit of the Go First as well. If the low cost carrier goes bankrupt, putting a full stop to its operations in India, Mumbai, once known as the aviation hub of India, will remain home to only one airline. The Mumbai Airport is the base city for Akasa Air as well as Go First airline.
However, with the possible demise of Go First (formerly Go Air Airline), Mumbai, the capital city of Maharashtra, as well as the Financial Capital of India, is no longer considered a big aviation city in the country. The maximum city will be a headquarters to only one airline – Akasa Air – in the city.
Mumbai’s Aviation Might
As per a report on Times Of India, around 30 years ago, Mumbai was a hub of air carriers, and a default choice for many aviation startups as a base city. Mumbai is also considered the birthplace of civil aviation in India, with India’s first flight in the 1930s taking off from the city’s airport. In 1932, JRD Tata flew the inaugural flight on Tata Air Services from Karachi to Bombay. Also, Mumbai was a hub for international flights, before Delhi International Airport became the biggest international airport in the country.
Airlines like Jet Airways, Air India, EastWest, Damania Airways, all had their corporate offices and operational bases in Mumbai. However, in 1990s and 2000s, many airlines shifted their base to Delhi-NCR, having headquarters either in Delhi or Gurgaon. In fact, Jet Airways was supposed to shift its location from Mumbai to Delhi under Jet 2.0 resurrection program.
Rise of Delhi-NCR
Most airlines that are operating in India have moved their headquarters to other cities, mostly to Delhi-NCR. As per TOI, back in the 1990s, only ModiLuft and Air Sahara were based out of Delhi. Now, Delhi and Gurugram, houses most of the Indian airlines, with a couple of them based out of Bengaluru as well.
Three of the major air carriers in India, IndiGo, Vistara and SpiceJet, are based out of Gurugram, while Delhi is the home to the headquarters of Air India, and Alliance Air. AirAsia India and Star Air operate bases out of Bengaluru. The newly announced regional airline Fly91 will have Goa as its base city.
Mumbai’s Aviation Future
With most of the airline’s moving out of the city, finding their home in Delhi-NCR, hopes are on Go First, to sort out the issue with Pratt & Whitney and restart its operations soon. If it happens, Mumbai will be home two major airlines, Akasa Air and Go First, which was anyways the case before May 2, 2023. Also, Mumbai’s upcoming Navi Mumbai Airport is expected to give a push to the aviation industry in Maharashtra.