Prime Minister Narendra Modi will inaugurate the first phase of the Navi Mumbai International Airport (NMIA) on October 8, a senior Maharashtra government official confirmed on Saturday. The state-of-the-art greenfield airport has been built at a cost of Rs 19,647 crore and will mark the second major airport in the Mumbai Metropolitan Region after the existing Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport.
The commercial flight operations from Navi Mumbai Airport are expected to begin in December. The airport received its aerodrome licence from the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) on September 30.
The project is being developed in multiple phases by Navi Mumbai International Airport Ltd, with the Adani Group holding a 74 percent stake and the remaining 26 percent owned by the Maharashtra government’s City and Industrial Development Corporation (CIDCO).
“The second airport of Maha Mumbai — Navi Mumbai International Airport — is going to be inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on October 8,” CIDCO Vice Chairman and Managing Director Vijay Singhal told PTI after a media briefing.
According to Singhal, the Prime Minister will land at the new airport at around 2:40 pm and will spend nearly two hours at the facility. “The Prime Minister will first visit the terminal building, and then take a round of the terminal building, and then he will be addressing the audience,” he said.
The International Air Transport Association (IATA) has assigned the code ‘NMI’ to Navi Mumbai International Airport. Domestic carriers, including Air India Group, IndiGo, and Akasa Air have already announced plans to shift part of their flight operations to the new facility.
Spread across 1,160 hectares, the airport will have four terminals with a total passenger capacity of 90 million per annum and a cargo capacity of 3.25 million metric tonnes once fully completed, making it one of 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 becomes fully operational, both airports together will manage nearly 150 million passengers per year.
“So, once this airport is fully completed, then these two airports together will cater to the almost 150 million passengers per annum, making the two airports a big aviation hub globally,” Singhal said.
He added that while Rs 19,647 crore has been spent on Phase 1, the total cost of completing all four terminals is expected to reach Rs 1 lakh crore.
Navi Mumbai International Airport will also be the first aerodrome in India to be connected by expressways, highways, metro lines, suburban rail, and even water taxi services.
“This is also a green airport as it has the storage facility for sustainable aviation fuel,” Singhal noted. He added that the facility will feature an Automated Passenger People’s Mover system to internally connect all four terminals.
– Ends
Tune In