DGCA grants aerodrome licence to Navi Mumbai International Airport

Aviation regulator DGCA has granted an aerodrome licence to the Navi Mumbai International Airport (NMIA), paving the way for the upcoming facility to commence operations.

“Navi Mumbai International Airport (NMIA) marks a significant milestone with the grant of its Aerodrome Licence from the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA). The licence, awarded after meeting stringent safety and regulatory requirements, is an essential prerequisite for commencing operations,” operator Navi Mumbai International Airport Ltd (NMIAL) said in a statement on Tuesday.

The greenfield airport is being developed in five phases under a public-private partnership led by Adani Group in collaboration with Maharashtra’s town planning agency CIDCO.

In the first phase, the airport will have the capacity to handle 20 million passengers per annum and 0.5 million metric tonnes of cargo. At full scale, it is projected to manage up to 90 million passengers and 3.2 million metric tonnes of cargo annually.

With the aerodrome licence in place, the airport, second in the Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR), moves closer to its operational debut.

The facility is expected to be inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in early October, after the ceremony, originally scheduled for September 30, was delayed due to heavy rains in the MMR and Konkan region.

“There is a lot of loose soil and muck on the roads leading up to the new airport in Ulwe, which may make it difficult for visitors to reach the airport,” an official from the Maharashtra chief minister’s office was quoted as saying by Hindustan Times.

NMIAL has taken 405 flats at Panvel in the Mumbai Metropolitan Region from real estate firm Wadhwa Group for people working at the upcoming airport.

NMIAL has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with The Wadhwa Group to secure 405 ready-to-move-in flats on a "leave and license" basis in its township 'Wadhwa Wise City' at Panvel for airport personnel and families from October 2025, the real estate company said in a statement on Wednesday.

A leave and license agreement is a legal document that allows a property owner (licensor) to grant temporary usage rights of their property to another party (licensee) without transferring ownership.

Air India Express, the low-cost arm of Air India, will operate 20 daily flights to 15 Indian cities initially, scaling up to 55 daily departures including international routes by mid-2026.

IndiGo has announced 18 daily flights at launch, with plans to expand to 140 flights in the next 18 months. Akasa Air will start with 15 domestic flights daily before ramping up to over 300 domestic and 50 international flights weekly.