Commercial flights begin at Navi Mumbai Airport, airlines plan to scale-up

The Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR) officially has a second airport after the Navi Mumbai International Airport (NMIA) started commercial flight operations for passengers on Thursday.

 

The airport’s first departure was an IndiGo flight to Hyderabad, while its first arrival was an IndiGo service from Bengaluru. The first arrival was accorded a ceremonial water cannon salute.

 

During its initial phase of operations, domestic services are expected to be operated by Indian carriers such as Air India Express, Akasa Air, IndiGo and Star Air with a plan of 24 scheduled departures daily.

 

NMIA plans to scale up services starting from February next year.

 

At present, the airport can handle 10 aircraft movements every hour.

 

Air India Express inaugurated its direct services from the airport to Delhi and Bengaluru. IndiGo said its services connected NMIA to and from 13 different cities such as Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, Kochi, Delhi, Hyderabad, Lucknow, and others.

 

“Navi Mumbai is a key pillar of our dual-airport strategy, complementing our services from CSMIA, where we operate direct flights to 11 domestic and three international destinations,” said Aloke Singh, managing director, Air India Express.

 

Meanwhile, Akasa Air has scheduled flights connecting NMIA to Goa, Delhi, Kochi and Ahmedabad.

 

“Akasa Air will have the largest percentage of its fleet and operations based out of Navi Mumbai International Airport, and we are proud to be early and valuable participants in this landmark development,” said Vinay Dube, founder and chief executive officer (CEO), Akasa Air.

 

The airline said the airport would be a “key growth pillar”. It said that it plans to ramp operations from the airport, scaling up to 300 domestic and 50 international weekly departures.

 

“As part of its broader network strategy, the airline is also set to ramp up to 10 parking bases by the end of FY27, with a focused international expansion into key Middle Eastern and Southeast Asian markets,” it added.

 

NMIA was inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on October 8.

 

During its first phase of operations, the airport will have the capacity to handle about 20 million passengers annually, thereby easing pressures on the busy Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport (CSMIA) in Mumbai.

 

CSMIA handles over 50 million passengers annually.

 

The new airport will also have a capacity to handle 5 lakh metric tonnes of cargo annually in the initial phase. 

 

NMIA is a public private partnership (PPP) between Mumbai International Airport Limited (MIAL), a subsidiary of Adani Airports Holdings Limited (AAHL), and Maharashtra government undertaking City and Industrial Development Corporation of Maharashtra Limited (CIDCO).