'Pune’s International Airport Is in Navi Mumbai,' Joke Frustrated Punekars Amid Purandar Airport Delays

An IndiGo A320 passenger aircraft landed successfully at 1.32pm on Sunday at runway 08/26 of the under-construction Navi Mumbai International Airport (NMIA), paving the way for the Navi Mumbai International Airport Ltd (NMIAL) to seek an aerodrome licence from the aviation safety regulator Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) to start commercial flight services.

"Our ambition is to do the commercial inauguration of the airport by April 17," Adani Airport Holdings Ltd CEO Arun Bansal told the media after the successful trial landing of the first civil passenger aircraft. Bansal said that the domestic operations will start from the second half of May as after the inaugural flight some procedures will have to be followed which will take about four weeks. And by the end of July, he said, "we expect to start international operations."

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Meanwhile, Punekars who are frustrated by the delays in the proposed greenfield Pune International Airport at Purandar took to social media and joked that the Navi Mumbai International Airport is actually for Pune only given that its distance is closer than Purandar.

"Pune is finally getting its international airport in Navi Mumbai," commented an X (formerly Twitter) user. "Way easier to get to Navi Mumbai than Purandar. Time and effort-wise," said another user. "Speaking from Bangalore, that's faster for sure," quipped another user. "Good for PCMC or people from Wakad, Balewadi or Kothrud as they can directly go via highway," said a fourth user.

In September this year, before the Assembly elections, former Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, who is now the Deputy CM, directed the authorities to start the procedure of land acquisition for the Purandar Airport. Union Minister of State for Civil Aviation Murlidhar Mohol also stated that talks about land acquisition for Purandar Airport have begun. However, progress is nowhere in sight as of now.