Navi Mumbai: NMIA All Set For Trial Run, First Aircraft To Land October 31

After much delay and deadline extensions, the first aircraft at the Navi Mumbai International Airport (NMIA) will be landing on October 31, 2024, albeit on a trial basis. The aircraft will travel after the commissioning of the Instrument Landing System (ILS), which is part of calibrating flight path to ensure operational readiness of the airport.

“The Airports Authority of India (AAI) conducted ILS testing last month but could not finish the same in the wake of inclement weather conditions and incessant rains. They plan to conduct the testing again from August 12. Once the testing is done, pathway calibrated and report submitted, further process would be carried out since a lot of tests and permissions need to be taken before making the runway operational,” sources known to the development said.

When asked if any specific timeline has been decided to make the highway operational, the sources said, “If everything goes as per plans, we will see the first aircraft landing at the airport by October 31. However, this landing would be on a trial basis while the first phase of the airport will be operational by March 31, 2025.”

ILS is a precision runway approach aid based on two radio beams which together provide pilots with both vertical and horizontal guidance during an approach to the land. While the localiser component of the system provides lateral guidance such as whether an arriving aircraft is in alignment with the central line of the runway to a pilot, the glider path component of the system gives vertical guidance like altitude.

Recently, the International Air Transport Association (IATA) awarded ‘NMI’ as location code to Navi Mumbai International Airport Pvt. Ltd. (NMIAL). It is one of the important milestones for the airport and a step towards asserting its global identity. IATA Codes are an integral part of the aviation and travel industry which help identify destinations and traffic documents of a commercial airline. In addition, this three-letter code also facilitates smooth running of hundreds of electronic applications which have been built around these coding systems for passenger and cargo traffic purposes.

In its initial phase the airport will have a capacity of 20 million passengers per annum and 0.5 million metric tonnes per year cargo capacity. While the first and the second phase of the mega airport will have one runway, one terminal building and a passenger capacity of 2 crore, the second runway, four terminals along with an increased passenger capacity of 9 crore will be the part of phases 3, 4 and 5.