Navi Mumbai International Airport to be inaugurated on Oct 8: Gautam Adani

The much-awaited Navi Mumbai International Airport (NMIA) will be inaugurated on October 8, Adani Group Chairman Gautam Adani said on Wednesday.

The announcement comes a day after aviation regulator DGCA granted an aerodrome licence to NMIA, clearing the final regulatory hurdle before operations can commence.

Developed under a public-private partnership between Adani Group and the City and Industrial Development Corporation (CIDCO) of Maharashtra, the greenfield airport is being built in five phases. Adani Group holds a 74% stake in the project, while CIDCO owns the remaining 26%.

“Ahead of the inauguration of Navi Mumbai International Airport on 8 Oct, I met with our differently-abled colleagues, construction workers, women staff, engineers, artisans, fire fighters and the guards who helped bring this vision to life,” Adani said in a post on X.

“I felt the pulse of a living wonder — a monument shaped by thousands of hands and hearts. When millions of flights take to the skies and billions walk through these halls, the spirit of these people will echo through every takeoff and every step — and to them, I offer my deepest gratitude,” he added, sharing a video of his visit to the site.

Originally scheduled to open on September 30, the inauguration was postponed due to heavy rains in the Mumbai Metropolitan Region and Konkan areas.

NMIA will be the second airport in the Mumbai region after Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport and will carry the airport code ‘NMI’.

In the first phase, the airport will be capable of handling 20 million passengers annually and 0.5 million metric tonnes of cargo. Once fully developed, the capacity is projected to expand to 90 million passengers and 3.2 million metric tonnes of cargo per year.

Airlines have already announced their operational plans from the new hub. Air India Express will start with 20 daily flights to 15 Indian cities, scaling up to 55 daily departures, including international routes by mid-2026.

IndiGo has announced 18 daily flights initially, with plans to expand to 140 in the next 18 months, while Akasa Air will begin with 15 daily domestic services before ramping up to more than 300 domestic and 50 international flights weekly.

According to the civil aviation ministry, India currently has 162 operational airports.