Almost thirty years after the government first envisioned it, the second airport in the Mumbai Metropolitan Region is finally ready for take-off. We are talking about the Navi Mumbai International Airport (NMIA), which is set for its ceremonial launch on October 8.
This as NMIA has received the aerodrome licence from the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA). This certification granted by the DGCA permits an airport to commence operations after meeting all safety and regulatory standards.
The idea of a second airport in the Mumbai Metropolitan Region originated in 1997, almost three decades ago. With traffic rising at Mumbai’s Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport and projections of future congestion, the Civil Aviation Ministry set up a panel to identify potential sites for a second airport in the region.
The process of identifying and finalising the site took exactly ten years. In 2007, the central government gave its in-principle approval for the Navi Mumbai airport. However, it took another decade for actual work on the ground to begin.
After approvals from the City and Industrial Development Corporation of Maharashtra (CIDCO) and the Ministry of Defence, bids were invited for the airport’s development on a public-private partnership (PPP) basis. In 2017, GVK-led Mumbai International Airport Limited won the bid to build the Navi Mumbai Airport.
Finally, in 2018, Prime Minister Narendra Modi unveiled the plaque for the groundbreaking ceremony, marking the start of construction. Initially, the airport was expected to commence operations in December 2019, but that timeline proved too ambitious.
In 2021, billionaire Gautam Adani-led Adani Group took over MIAL. However, land acquisition issues continued to delay the project. It was only in 2022 that CIDCO handed over the full 2,866 acres of land to the Adani Group.
It then took two more years for the airport to achieve basic operational facilities. Once the runway was ready, IndiGo operated the first validation test flight at the airport in December 2024.
The commercial operations at NMIA are expected to begin by mid-November. All major airlines, IndiGo, Air India and Akasa Air, have announced plans to operate from NMIA.IndiGo will operate 18 daily departures to 15 cities, increasing to 140 daily departures by the end of 2026.
Air India plans 20 daily departures to 15 cities initially, scaling up to 55 daily departures by mid-2026.
The most ambitious plan comes from Akasa Air, which will operate over 100 weekly domestic departures initially, scaling up to 300 domestic and over 50 international weekly departures in the winter schedule
