Navi Mumbai airport expected to launch commercial operations in December 2024

The first terminal building at Navi Mumbai International Airport is nearly complete in terms of its exterior structure. A partly destroyed hill is located directly behind the building that is currently under construction. It is now anticipated by airport company executives that the hill will be levelled by mid-January, allowing for the first commercial take off by December of the following year. 

An official for Navi Mumbai International Airport Ltd (NMIAL) stated that they are ahead of schedule on the airfield; what’s left is a small hill. The airfield, which consists of a runway, taxiway, apron, and other structures, is 60% complete, with the runway being 70% complete.

The official further said that the concessionaire MIAL and the project’s nodal authority, Cidco (City and Industrial Development Corporation) for Navi Mumbai, were to work together to demolish the hill. Cidco’s portion of the demolition is what’s left. The demolition would be finished by mid-January, saying have worked around the earlier delays of the demolition and should be able to meet timelines.

MIAL owns 74% of the jointly owned subsidiary NMIAL, while Cidco owns the remaining 25%. Mumbai International Airport Ltd. (MIAL) is a jointly owned subsidiary of Airport Authority of India (AAI) and Adani Airport Holding Limited. According to a November report by aviation consulting firm Capa India, the airport is experiencing delays and is probably going to start operating commercially in 2025 rather than 2024.

The official further said that the original plan for the Navi Mumbai Airport was to relieve traffic at Mumbai’s only international airport, which is expected to handle a mix of domestic and international flights in the coming years and reach a peak capacity of 60 million passengers.

 Twelve million passengers are anticipated to fly through Navi airport in its first year of operation, out of its initial 20 million capacity. The airport will be ready for DGCA inspections from September onwards and aims to start in the winter schedule of 2024.