Navi Mumbai International Airport (NMIA) will officially begin operations for commercial flights from December 25, 2025. After the inauguration by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on October 8, 2025, this greenfield airport is now ready for passengers, which will play an important role in meeting the growing air demand of Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR).
23 flights will depart on the airport’s first day of operation on December 25, up from 34 daily departures since February; In the first phase of operations, from December 25 to January 31, 2026, the airport will handle 23 scheduled departures per day. During this period, the airport will operate for 12 hours from 8 am to 8 pm and a maximum of 10 aircraft operations (ATMs) will be possible per hour. At the same time, from February 2026, NMIA will enter full 24×7 operations and daily departures will increase to 34.
NMIA Indigo Airlines will operate the first arrival and departure at
After the commencement of operations of Navi Mumbai International Airport, the first aircraft arrival and departure will be operated by IndiGo Airlines. The first arriving aircraft on the inauguration day will be IndiGo 6E460, which will land from Bengaluru at 8 am. After this, IndiGo 6E882 aircraft will take off for Hyderabad at 8:40 am, which will be the first departure flight from the new airport. In the initial phase, IndiGo, Air India Express and Akasa Air will together operate flights from NMIA to a total of 16 major domestic cities.
The 16 domestic cities where flights will operate from NMIA include Ahmedabad, Aurangabad, Bengaluru, Chennai, Cochin, Coimbatore, Delhi, Goa (GOI and GOX), Hyderabad, Jaipur, Jammu, Kolkata, Lucknow, Mangaluru, Nagpur and Vadodara.
Preparations continue orat trial
Detailed Operational Readiness and Airport Transfer (ORAT) trials are being conducted to ensure seamless operations at the new airport. All agencies, security forces and airline partners are involved in this. To strengthen the security arrangements, CISF was officially deployed at NMIA on October 29, 2025.
Major aviation hub of India’s future
NMIA is being developed by Navi Mumbai International Airport Private Limited (NMIAL). It is a Public-Private Partnership (PPP) project in which Adani Airports Holdings Limited (AAHL) has 74% stake and CIDCO has 26% stake. The airport is spread over an area of 1,160 hectares and will have a capacity to handle 90 million passengers per annum (MPPA) when fully developed. Its two parallel runways, state-of-the-art terminals, modern cargo facilities and eco-friendly infrastructure will make it one of the most advanced airports in India.
Inspired by the Indian national flower lotus NMIA
The design of the airport is inspired by the Indian national flower, the lotus, giving it a futuristic and attractive look. NMIA will have a capacity of 20 MPPA passengers in the initial phase, 0.5 million metric tonne annual cargo capacity, NMIA aims to set new standards in operational efficiency, sustainability and passenger experience. Its strategic location will make it a major gateway to Western India and an important hub in the global aviation network.
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