Mumbai: Air India group has announced its plan to commence commercial flights from the upcoming Navi Mumbai International Airport (NMIA), as the airport nears its inauguration date. Air India Express will daily operate 20 flights to 15 cities across the country.
Mumbai metropolitan region’s second airport, NMIA, is being prepared for its scheduled inauguration on September 30. After IndiGo and Akasa Air announced their plan to commence operations from the first day of airport’s operations, Air India Group also announced its operation plan on Tuesday, a week before the inauguration. According to sources, the airline group was prepared to announce the operations in July but postponed it due to the tragic AI-171 crash in Ahmedabad.
In the first phase of the new airport's operations, Air India group's value carrier Air India Express is said to operate 20 daily departures, which will result in 40 air traffic movements (ATMs), connecting 15 Indian cities to and from NMIA. The airline group also intends to scale up to 55 departures by mid-2026, including up to 5 daily international flights. By Winter 2026, the group aims to further expand its operations to 60 departures from NMIA, connecting passengers to key domestic and international destinations.
Statement Of The Chief Executive Officer Of Air India
Campbell Wilson, chief executive officer and managing director of Air India, said, “We look forward to commencing operations at Navi Mumbai International Airport, as Mumbai joins the league of world cities with more than one airport. We are happy to work with Adani Airports to build NMIA not only as a point that connects to the rest of India, but also as one of the country's key global transit hubs for passengers and cargo given its strategic geographical location. At the Air India group, we are proud to lead the charge in connecting the West to the East and beyond via India, and our expansion at NMIA will support India's growth as a global aviation hub.”
Arun Bansal, chief executive officer at Adani Airport Holdings Ltd., said, "We are delighted to welcome Air India Group to Navi Mumbai International Airport as one of our valued airline partners. Their ambitious expansion plans and global vision are perfectly aligned with our aim of making NMIA a benchmark in global aviation. This partnership will redefine Mumbai's connectivity landscape and strengthen India's twin-airport strategy, NMIA's adoption of technology for enhancing efficiency and best in class experience for passengers will play a pivotal role in delivering seamless and superior passenger journeys for decades to come.”
On May 28, IndiGo announced to be the first airline to commence commercial flight operations from NMIA. It plans to operate 18 daily departures in the first phase to 15 Indian cities, further expanding it to over 140 daily domestic and international departures by November 2026. IndiGo also operated the first commercial flight that landed on NMIA on December 29 under the flight validation test.
On June 6, Akasa Air also stayed in step and announced 100 weekly domestic, scaling upto 300 domestic and over 50 international departures weekly in the winter schedule of 2026. The airline had claimed to be deploying the largest percentage of the fleet operating from NMIA.
Flight operations at the greenfield airport will commence with only eight to 10 ATMs every hour in the initial period and will gradually scale up to 30 by the summer of 2026, the airport’s CEO BVJK Sharma had told The Free Press Journal. In its initial phase, NMIA is expected to be developed across 58 acres to handle 20 million passengers and 0.5 MMT of cargo per annum, with the capacity to serve 90 million passengers and 3.2 MMT of cargo per annum, once complete.
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