17 November,2025 03:29 PM IST | Navi Mumbai | mid-day online correspondent
From February 1, NMIA will switch to round-the-clock operations and scale up to 34 daily departures. File pic
The Navi Mumbai International Airport (NMIA) will begin commercial operations on December 25, with IndiGo operating both the first arrival and the first departure from the much-awaited greenfield facility, airport authorities announced on Monday.
According to the latest operational plan, the inaugural flight into NMIA will be IndiGo 6E460 from Bengaluru, scheduled to land at 8 am on Christmas Day.
The first outbound service - IndiGo 6E882 to Hyderabad - will take off at 8.40 am.
In its first month, the airport will function for 12 hours every day, starting 8 am. It will handle 23 scheduled departures and up to 10 aircraft movements per hour.
From February 1, NMIA will switch to round-the-clock operations and scale up to 34 daily departures to meet growing demand in the Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR).
The airport was inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on October 8.
Authorities said the rollout has been structured in phases to prioritise passenger safety, reliability and on-ground readiness.
IndiGo, Air India Express and Akasa Air will operate the initial set of services, connecting NMIA to 16 domestic destinations, including Ahmedabad, Aurangabad, Bengaluru, Chennai, Cochin, Coimbatore, Delhi, Goa (both Dabolim and Mopa), Hyderabad, Jaipur, Jammu, Kolkata, Lucknow, Mangaluru, Nagpur, and Vadodara.
Earlier airline announcements had suggested Akasa Air's Delhi-Navi Mumbai service would be the first to land; however, the official operational schedule confirms IndiGo as the inaugural carrier.
For a seamless launch, the airport is currently conducting extensive Operational Readiness and Airport Transfer (ORAT) trials with airlines, security agencies and ground partners. The Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) was formally inducted on October 29 and has been deployed across key functions.
Developed through a public-private partnership, NMIA is managed by Navi Mumbai International Airport Limited (NMIAL), in which Adani Airports Holdings Limited holds a 74 per cent stake and CIDCO holds the remaining 26 per cent. Spread over 1,160 hectares, the airport is designed to eventually handle 90 million passengers annually, featuring two parallel runways, advanced terminals and eco-friendly infrastructure inspired by the lotus.
The first phase will have the capacity to process 20 million passengers per year and handle 0.5 million metric tonnes of cargo.
With ticket bookings now open, NMIA's launch is expected to significantly ease congestion at Mumbai's Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport and serve as a major new gateway for western India.
