Challenge Group suspends freighter flights to NMIA

Challenge Group has temporarily suspended its freighter operations to Navi Mumbai International Airport (NMI), citing operational difficulties at the new airport.

In an official post on its LinkedIn page, the airline said it had decided to suspend its Mumbai operations "until further notice". The group said that, following its mandatory transition from Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport (BOM) to NMI, it assessed operating conditions at the new airport. It concluded that the present setup does not yet let it deliver cargo services with the reliability and certainty it requires.

The group said the circumstances were outside its control, but the decision to suspend was a deliberate one. It added that protecting customers, their cargo and the reliability of their supply chains remains its priority.

Challenge Group said its teams are evaluating alternative options to maintain strong connectivity between India and its international network. It expects to share details of a new service with the market shortly. The airline said it remains committed to Mumbai and will resume operations once the conditions needed to support its cargo services reliably are in place.

In a separate LinkedIn post, Challenge Group's Chief Commercial Officer Or Zak listed the reasons behind the suspension. He said moving freighter operations from BOM to NMI "was always going to be a major move", with many moving parts that all need to work together.

Zak noted that the move had been known for a long time, and that close communication and coordination would have been expected before, during and after the transition. "There have clearly been gaps along the way, and we are now seeing the impact," he wrote.

On the import side, Zak 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, he said that 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, you end up with freighters leaving with very little cargo, or even completely empty," he wrote.

Zak said Challenge Group took the "difficult decision" to suspend flights to NMI until it can operate reliably again, with its customers in mind.

Zak warned that the timing could not be worse. The disruption is unfolding at the very start of the calendar year's air cargo peak season, when shippers' volumes typically climb sharply and airport handling capacity is tested the most. "Volumes are about to increase, so the disruption could become much bigger very quickly," he wrote.

He also acknowledged the airport's potential. "NMI is much needed and has enormous potential. But having the capacity and being ready to handle it are two different things," Zak wrote.

Challenge Airlines flew its first freighter into NMIA on 24 September. The aircraft was a Boeing B767 freighter arriving from Dubai (DWC). It was followed by the airline's B777-300ERSF, or "Big Twin", freighter from Liege.

The shift follows Mumbai's primary airport, Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport (CSMIA), announcing 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.

The past month has seen a flurry of cargo airlines landing freighters at the new airport. Aircraft types have included the Airbus A321-200P2F, A330F, B767F, B777F, B777-300ERSF (Big Twin), B747F and even the 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 (Antonov AN-124). 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 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.

Challenge Group traces its roots to 1976, when it was founded in Israel as CAL Cargo Airlines to transport agricultural exports to Europe. Chairman Offer Gilboa acquired the business in 2010, restructured it and rebranded it as Challenge Group in 2020. Its Israeli airline arm was renamed Challenge Airlines IL in 2022. The group now operates three airlines across Israel, Belgium and Malta, alongside ground handling, road feeder, leasing and maintenance divisions.

Challenge Group has acquired five former Jet Airways Boeing 777-300ERs as feedstock for freighter conversions, investing over $107 million across two purchase tranches. In August this year, one of the three B777-300ERs parked in Mumbai was made airworthy and flown to Tel Aviv, where it is being converted into a freighter under Israel Aerospace Industries' (IAI) Big Twin conversion programme. The other four aircraft will follow once they have been restored and recovered, before they too are flown to Tel Aviv for conversion.