Navi Mumbai finally got its own airport after 40-year of wait— What you should know
&imwidth=600&imheight=450&format=webp&quality=medium "Navi Mumbai finally got its own airport after 40-year of wait— What you should know")
PM Modi arrives to inaugurate Phase-1 of the Navi Mumbai International Airport. Photograph: (ANI/X/@narendramodi)
The first phase includes Terminal 1 and Runway 1, where 10 bus gates and 29 aero bridges have been inaugurated; however, the flight will not begin operations immediately.
Finally, after 40 years, phase one of the Navi Mumbai International Airport (NMIA) was inaugurated on Wednesday by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in the presence of Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and Deputy Chief Ministers Eknath Shinde and Ajit Pawar. The first phase includes Terminal 1 and Runway 1, where 10 bus gates and 29 aero bridges have been inaugurated; however, the flight will not begin operations immediately.
“Post inauguration, the airport will be handed over to the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) for a security sweep, which could take 30 to 45 days. We also need to mobilise customs and immigration teams and complete end-to-end testing, which is a 45-60-day process,” said Arun Bansal, CEO of Adani Airports Holdings Ltd, developer and operator of the NMIA, Indian Express reported.
The exact date of flight operation is yet to be announced; however, NMIA CEO Captain B V J K Sharma and Bansal hinted that commercial flights are expected to begin in December 2025. In response to shifting part of operations to NMIA, three major airlines, Air India, Akasa Air and IndiGo, have already signed.
Last month, Air India announced plans to start 20 daily departures (40 air traffic movements), IndiGo plans to operate 18 daily flights to more than 15 cities, and Akasa Air said in June that it will start with 15 daily domestic flights initially.
What do we know about this project?
The idea of building an airport in Navi Mumbai was first proposed in 1974 and gained momentum by 1985. By 1994, CIDCO and the Ministry of Civil Aviation (MoCA) had agreed to set up the airport in Navi Mumbai. A few years later, in 1997, CIDCO allotted Air India two to three large parcels of land and began constructing a residential colony for its staff.
However, the airport project was soon shelved, and construction on the colony also came to a halt. When CIDCO later sought to reclaim the land, the Air India employees who had paid for the flats took the matter to court.
After years of legal proceedings, the court ruled in favour of the staff in 2016, allowing them to retain the homes they had purchased. The airport, though, remained just a dream. Now, after 40 years, the long-awaited Navi Mumbai Airport is finally becoming a reality — though at a new site.
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