Ahead of the inaugural flight’s landing, the IndiGo staff cut a cake and broke coconuts, the statement mentioned.
Photo: IANS
The Adani Group-owned Navi Mumbai International Airport (NMIA) began commercial operations on Thursday with the arrival of its first scheduled flight, IndiGo’s 6E460 from Bengaluru, which landed at 8 am and was greeted with a ceremonial water cannon salute, according to an official statement.
Ahead of the inaugural flight’s landing, the IndiGo staff cut a cake and broke coconuts, the statement mentioned.
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Speaking after the first commercial flight landed at the airport, Adani Group Chairman Gautam Adani expressed his joy, saying, “This is a very proud moment for Mumbaikars, and we are really fortunate to have the rights to develop this airport. It is a brand-new facility, and we have tried to make it a world-class airport.”
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In a message to air passengers, Gautam Adani assured ease of congestion at Mumbai’s existing airport.
“Mumbai had been struggling for the past 10 years as the existing airport remained congested. The new facility will ease air traffic. The airport is here to cater to all passengers. From food to art to hospitality, everything has been carefully curated with our passengers in mind,” Gautam Adani said.
To further support passengers and ensure ease of travel, the airport has introduced location-specific digital signage that displays destination names in the local language of the city to which passengers are travelling.
Later on Thursday, NMIA handled its first outbound service as IndiGo flight 6E882 departed for Hyderabad at 8:40 am, completing the airport’s maiden commercial turnaround.
Sharing real-time updates on social media, the Adani Group wrote, “A new era for Indian aviation takes shape. After years of planning and execution, Navi Mumbai International Airport stands ready to welcome its first flight. Built to serve 90 million passengers annually by the final phase, NMIA is set to unlock new possibilities not just for Mumbai, but for the entire nation.”
On the opening day, flights operated by IndiGo, Air India Express, Akasa Air, and Star Air connected the new Mumbai airport to nine cities across the country, the airport operator said.
The airport is scheduled to handle 15 outbound flights on day one. During the initial phase, operations will run for 12 hours, with plans to scale up to 24 daily departures serving 13 destinations. At full utilisation in this phase, the facility can handle up to 10 aircraft movements, including arrivals and departures, per hour.
The project is being executed in stages through a special purpose vehicle called Navi Mumbai International Airport Ltd (NMIAL), in which the Adani Group holds a 74% stake, while the remaining 26% is owned by Maharashtra’s city planning agency called the City and Industrial Development Corporation (CIDCO). Phase-1 of the five-stage development plan has been completed at an investment of Rs 19,650 crore, the statement mentioned.
Covering an area of about 1,160 hectares, the airport will initially feature a single terminal and one runway, with the capacity to handle 20 million passengers annually.
Once all five phases are completed, the airport is expected to serve up to 90 million passengers a year, supported by dedicated cargo terminals and multimodal transport links, according to the statement.
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