PM Modi to inaugurate Navi Mumbai International Airport on Oct 8; flight operations to begin in December
Mumbai: Prime Minister Narendra Modi is set to inaugurate the first phase of the Navi Mumbai International Airport (NMIA) on October 8, media reports said.
Built at a cost of ₹19,647 crore, the state-of-the-art greenfield facility will become the second major airport in the Mumbai Metropolitan Region after Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport (CSMIA).
Commercial flight operations from the new airport are expected to commence in December, following the aerodrome licence granted by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) on September 30.
The project is being executed in multiple stages by Navi Mumbai International Airport Ltd, with the Adani Group holding a 74% stake, and the remaining 26% owned by the City and Industrial Development Corporation (CIDCO) of Maharashtra.
“The second airport of Maha Mumbai — Navi Mumbai International Airport — is going to be inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on October 8,” said CIDCO Vice Chairman and Managing Director Vijay Singhal, speaking to PTI after a media briefing.
Singhal added that the Prime Minister is expected to land at the new airport around 2:40 pm and spend nearly two hours at the site.
“The Prime Minister will first visit the terminal building, take a round of the premises, and then address the audience,” he said.
The International Air Transport Association (IATA) has assigned the airport the code ‘NMI’.
Domestic airlines, including the Air India Group, IndiGo, and Akasa Air, have already announced plans to shift part of their flight operations to the new facility.
Spread over 1,160 hectares, the airport will eventually house four terminals with a total passenger capacity of 90 million per year and cargo handling capacity of 3.25 million metric tonnes, positioning it among Asia’s largest aviation hubs.
“To begin with, we have completed Terminal One, with a capacity of 20 million passengers per annum, 0.8 million metric tonnes of cargo capacity, and one runway,” Singhal said.
Currently, Mumbai International Airport handles around 55 million passengers annually.
Once NMIA is fully operational, the two airports together are projected to serve nearly 150 million passengers a year.
“So, once this airport is fully completed, these two airports together will cater to almost 150 million passengers per annum, making the region a major aviation hub globally,” Singhal added.
While ₹19,647 crore has been spent on the first phase, the total project cost is expected to reach ₹1 lakh crore upon completion of all four terminals.
NMIA will also be India’s first airport to be seamlessly connected by expressways, highways, metro lines, suburban rail, and water taxi services.
“This is also a green airport as it has the storage facility for sustainable aviation fuel,” Singhal noted, adding that the complex will feature an Automated Passenger People Mover system linking all four terminals internally.
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